Poketech Camp 1
by kathmolko
Summary: Some dull musings and conversations of the characters, expectations and motivations, another calm before the storm fic. Fairly well written, for me anyway!
1. Default Chapter Title

JENNY

Jenny and Kishi leant against the side of the coach, their packs safely stored inside it along with the rest of the students'. Jenny's hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail and she was wearing khaki cargo pants and a turquoise blue long-sleeved shirt. Her hiking boots had traces of irremovable mud along the sides, but that mud was flaking off onto her thick blue socks.

She watched James and Gary handball a football back and forth, and then diverted her focus to Cassidy and Snap making out on a park bench nearby.

The two Year 10 buses and their soon-to-be passengers were waiting at Cerulean Park for they're overweight, sweaty bus-driver, who was having a smoke under a tree.

"What a feral," Joy noted bitchily, herself and good friend Jessibelle wandering up to Jenny and Kishi's side.

Jenny's hair prickled...was Joy referring to her? 

"I know, that guy contradicts the entire theory of everybody having their own beauty!" Jessibelle cackled.

Jenny didn't find it at all amusing, but she noticed Kishi's mouth stretch into a grin, and suddenly everyone was laughing. Everybody except her. Everyone except Jenny. It seemed like that sentence was becoming her reflection of life, judging by the current events.

"I bet there are wild animals in his butt-hair!" Kishi blurted, and set everyone off laughing again.

"I bet you could hide a 747 in his nose!" Joy chimed in.

"I bet you could land helicopters on his man-boobs!" Jessibelle exclaimed hysterically. Kishi and Joy couldn't barely themselves laughing, and Jessibelle was well and truly beyond control.

"Oh dear," Kishi sighed, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. 

Finally Jessibelle's laughter slowed to a cease, decreasing in both speed and volume until it had completely stopped.

"I bet he smells a little bit, too," she added with purposeful understatement. Kishi and Joy laughed again, but the joke was over.

Jenny just leant there looking rather dour, which caused Joy to get a bit nasty.

"What's the matter with you today, Jen? Nervous?"

Jenny stiffened. That was the snide comment she'd been expecting to hear from Joy ever since Jessibelle had dumped Butch. Well now she'd heard it, what was she to say? On one hand, she didn't want Joy to walk all over her, and on the other hand, she didn't want bitches like Jessibelle and Cassidy on her case.

"Nah," she said with a sweet smile "Just a bit tired,"

Joy cast Jessibelle an amused raised eyebrow, and Jenny tried to ignore it. God, could things get any worse? She hated being walked all over, by people as previously mousy as Joy or those as assertive as Brock.

__

This camp, she vowed, _I'm gonna tell these guys where to get off._ She looked at Joy's smirking face and sighed inwardly. Everything was changing.

JAMES

James looked wistfully at Gabby. He tried to imagine her as knowing something about himself that no-one else did, like she was his private confident. He'd wanted things to change after he'd broken down in front of her. He'd expected them to grow so much closer.

Well they hadn't. They'd remained the distant friends of old, and Gabby was still more interested in talking to Jessi (of all people), or flirting with Gary. 

__

Well perhaps not flirting, James considered, punching the ball to Gary, _but getting close. Perhaps good-friends close, or perhaps not-so-subtle hints close._

Suddenly James felt really bad, it wasn't really any business of his what they did. He should be happy for him, and he would be, if he truly did love Gabby, and wasn't just holding her as a prize for his vanity.

James stared on, completely out of it, as a red Sherrin football buzzed his nose.

"Ya let that one go, man!" Gary hooted.

James looked at the football bouncing away, and then at Gabby flouncing away. He'd let one go, alright. 

ASH

"ALRIGHT KIDS! BUS!" yelled the mental busdriver as he unceremoniously picked his wedgie and got his legs into gear. "If yer not in it by the time I'm there, I'll leave yer behind, got it?"

Ash raced for the door of the bus where most of the Year 10s had gathered. The other bus, stretched out like a monolithic white slug behind it, was near deserted, save the popular kids.

"Hey! Kishi! Tracy! Lance! Jen! Come on the second bus with me!" Ash yelled, leading them up to the doors of the bus to be driven by a more placid looking guy, with a ginger beard and owl spectacles. Ash and his friends boarded the bus and carefully selected seats in the middle, in this order;

Hitmonchan

AshJenny

KishiLance

Tracy

They were all very careful to spread themselves out so as they would take up the entire seats, so as not to have undesirables seated next to them.

Ash watched as the trickle of kids slowly but surely filled up the bus, each making sure they had an entire seat for themselves, saving Cassidy and Snap, who were wedged tightly into the first seat from the back together, arms around eachothers shoulders.

"They are so cute," Kishi commented to Lance. He smiled and nodded as the bus roared into life and pulled onto the road with a mighty grunt and shove.

Ash stroked his chin, wondering if possibly there could be something on between them. They always left school together, and headed in the same direction as well. In fact, you often didn't see one without the other. He looked at there faces for enlightenment, both Kishi and Lance had a light flush dusting their cheeks...could something actually really be going on after all?

His mind still wandering and his mood not for talking, he shifted his gaze to Jenny, whose pretty face was wrung tightly with preoccupation. A rush of emotion hit him, something forgotten since they had gone on their first date. He suddenly felt really bad, after all the troubles that Misty had brought him, he'd abandoned Jenny.

"Excited?" Lance asked blandly, keeping the beginning conversation to its most basic form.

"Yeah," Kishi smiled, but her face remained still.

"You bet," Jenny said with such a lack of enthusiasm that Ash wondered for the rest of that day why she didn't say 'no'.

"I am," was the response Ash opted for, though he said it in such a way that it revealed nothing of what he really felt.

"Same," Lance smiled warmly, exchanging a small glance with Kishi.

"Yeah, it'll be good," Tracy replied genuinely "A lot of fun,"

Ash nodded, his mind fixed on Lance and Kishi's odd body language. Surely that was the biggest clue that there was something going on between them.

"*I'll get to battle some tough hillbilly Pokemon*" Hitmonchan said gruffly, raising his gloved fists in false anger.

"It's a good experience," said Kishi with little conviction.

"Mmm," Ash nodded.

"Good to get away from the homework, too," Jenny said boldly, her chocolate eyes narrowing uncharacteristically.

Such a shock was this to Ash, to see her look so bitter, that it rendered him speechless for a good few moments. And then, at the end of that time, Jenny's harsh face seemed to slump, rearranging itself non-commitedly to form the sweet mask that it always had.

Ash's back unstiffened, and he breathed out with inaudible relief.

"Truly, I am the master, but you will find method to my madness!" hailed a familiar voice as he sat himself behind Lance. "Hey Ash, Kishi!"

"Hi Gary," Kishi smiled.

"Hey, man!" Ash cried, slapping his friend a high five.

Gary raised an eyebrow and smirked teasingly at Lance. "Hey, Lance me bro!"

Lance raised his middle finger slowly and scathingly, and then broke into a grin. Two seats behind him, Hitmonchan was rubbing his hands together greedily, as though Gary was a big, buttery strawberry danish that he was about to polish off, but of course, the reality was something less sugarcoated.

Gary puffed himself up, stuck out his chest and said in what he seemed to believe was an Austrian accent and declared "I no waste my effort on you. You puny human specimen, me prime human specimen,"

There were several laughs behind him, and always the comedian, he stood up on the moving bus to accept them. And of course, when one stands up on a moving bus there is generally only one place they end up. Gary ended up there, and he complained of a swollen @$$ for the rest of the trip.

MISTY

Misty had wisely chosen the first bus, there were no annoying geeks like Kishi, and no stupid bimbos like Jessibelle. It was a perfect situation, though there was of course the matter of Brock from a seat behind that kept staring at her, and Jessi on the other side of the aisle was giving her daggers.

Misty crossed her pale arms over her bare stomach, wishing for her sake that she hadn't worn the indigo belly-top, anything to stop Brock's libidinous glances. Besides, Brock was supposed to be going out with that feral scrag Jenny.

Misty's eyebrows tilted into the middle evilly. _If I tell that stupid slut, Jenny, that her f***ed up boyfriend tried to crack onto me, she'll dump him for sure..._

But is that what you really want to happen? Taunted her mind, _because then the most likely result will be Jenny running to Ash, and him welcoming her with open arms._

Misty's smile dropped several degrees in its baneful quality. She knew she shouldn't care about that freak, but part of her still did, very much so indeed.

BUTCH

Butch caught a glimpse of himself seated at the front seat on the left in the rear view mirror. He was looking very gothic, though without a trenchcoat. That lack, however, was made up for a studded dog collar, black kohl lined eyes and black attire. His looks were almost frightening, something he never would have dreamed have looking like when he was with Jessibelle.

It still occurred to him how softly he said her name, as though he wanted to blame the sins of Satan upon her, but his soul wasn't strong enough. 

Feeling rather poetic he removed a small object (his notebook, covered black, funnily enough) from his pocket and opened it and scrawled in his last statement. 

__

I'm a bitter soul, he thought momentarily, though before a chance to finish his sentence was obtained, it was brutally dislodged from his head as the bus lurched forward on a bump in the road.

His neck swiveled around to look out of the window at the scrolling scenery. For a second his mind shifted back to his motorbike races, just the way the road blurred beneath him and the buildings swept by. Perhaps he shouldn't have given it up, but after he'd stacked it that time...

As quickly as the sudden memory pang had hit him, it fled him, and he was left to ponder why, even in his most resentful moods, he was never able to escape the tenderness he'd felt for Jessibelle.

GABBY

Gabby noticed James quietly staring at her, and she nervously thrust herself into Cassidy and Snap's conversation.

"Weepinbell most definitely has a bigger mouthspan than Victreebel." She giggled anxiously, spouting the first thing to enter her mind.

Looking rather annoyed, Cassidy nodded in bewilderment. It wasn't like Gabby to jibber like that, much less loose her composure. 

__

Oh crap, Gabby cursed mentally, _now Cass thinks I'm nuts. Damn! But it sure stopped James staring at me...what is his problem...and when will Gary come back so I can talk to him and steer clear of James?_

Gabby picked up the clasp of her silver charm bracelet between two fingers, twisting it around the chain insistently. She vaguely noted that the bracelet fiddling was becoming a little nervous idiosyncrasy of hers, and her popular peers did not look highly upon nervous little idiosyncrasies.

"So, Gabs, looking forward to camp?" inquired Cassidy, straightening out a crease mark in her red basketball T-shirt.

"Ah...kinda..." she responded, her answer ending more like a question than a return.

"I am, heaps of photo opportunity," Snap chimed in enthusiastically, placing his arm around Cassidy's shoulders again.

"Hey, I am trying to keep this top straight!" Cassidy lamented jokily, batting Snap's arm away. He laughed and then threw himself forward to kiss her.

Gabby looked away, Cass and Snap had obviously closed off her part in the conversation.

A minute later, Cassidy exclaimed, "Now my lipstick is ruined!"

JOY

Joy was seated close to the back, across the aisle from Jessibelle. It was the first time she'd ever sat so near to the popular group, and to tell the truth it kind of unnerved her. She wasn't sure when she should speak, what she should say, how to obtain the right consistency of conversation and silence...all the popular kids were so effortlessly cool, how she envied them.

How she envied Cassidy and Snap, too, for their picture-perfect stable relationship. She herself had never been in a relationship before, save an unfortunate moment with Butch, though that was never a relationship. She was partly jealous of Jenny too, for it seemed Jenny could get guys if she wanted them. Joy had never tried to get a guy, not outright, and she'd never really had any strong feelings for one particular one. She knew Jenny had, and back in the Before Butch times, Jenny's wild crushes had annoyed her. Now it was just Jenny as a whole that annoyed her.

Jenny was being so uptight and edgy around her, as though grumpily intimidated. Or in the shits. But Joy didn't know what she'd ever done to her; Jenny was just being stupid, cracking it for no reason at all.

Her mind drifted a little. She was feeling like she should have a crush on someone, just so that she could make conversation with Jessibelle. It embarrassed her to hear of Belle's many amorous encounters, when she had nothing to compare. Well, she had something, but was far too uncomfortable to bring that up between them.

She wondered if she would ever freely tell Jessibelle about her experience with Butch. That night at the party he'd told her that he had admired her for so long from afar, and wanted to get close. Sure, he had been drunk, but his eyes still gleamed truthfully. Had Belle known that she and Butch had been drifting apart, or indeed that he had fancied another girl?

Joy wanted to ask Belle those very questions, but her reticentness held her back. Perhaps on camp the truth would come out.

JESSI

"Nowwww...whoa!" Mr. Gyabunga started, trying to stand upright at the front of the bus, and tripping unsuccessfully when the bus lurched forward.

Jessi pretended not to listen and picked at one of the many clearing scabs on her legs, both from Cassidy's attack and the bicycle accident.

"OK, well...have you all got your Pokemon? I hope you all have because as you'll remember last week we announced that Pokemon was a necessity for this trip, but if you forget them we'll be stopping in Lavender for an amenity sojourn and you can use the Transporter in the Pokecenter. Any questions?"

Brock stuck up his hand self-consciously. "What is an 'amenity sojourn'?"

"Going to the dunny," Mr. Gyabunga hissed, causing several kids to laugh.

Even if she had been in the mood, Jessi wouldn't have laughed at Mr. Gyabunga's lame attempts at a joke. All through the excruciating three weeks of exams leading up to camp he had speculated the cause of her visible injuries, announcing a new derivation every day.

That un-caring, humor-seeking attitude had driven her wild with the rage that so often consumed her. He didn't have any right at all to put himself above her and try to turn her sufferings into a raillery.

At least that was one thing she and Misty shared; a mutual hatred for Mr. Gyabunga.

She turned to look at Misty then, watching her occupied face curdle with scathing and bitter thoughts. The timid Misty of old was being replaced by some kind of beast.

__

I know it isn't really good of me to talk, Jessi told herself mentally, _but Misty has changed into the biggest bitch I've ever met, even more then Cassidy. Before I used to hate her because she was so much the moppet, but now I don't think I have the confidence to even openly glare at her now. She's creepy._

Jessi looked at Misty's stupid midriff top. Not only was she a total bitch but also dressed like cheap trash.

A sudden flash of memory made Jessi whirl her head away in sorrow and shame. She remembered the day at the cafeteria when James had called her a tart.

__

I'd had my blouse unbuttoned almost all the way, my skirt was hitched up...I'd talked like an eight-year old trying to shock, my make-up was an over-applied mess...God, I was so f***ing stupid, how could that unchaste cow be me?

Jessi shivered. It was who she was, and she shouldn't care. She'd vowed to be respectable after that, but looking at her face in the driver's mirror she saw nothing of that dream. It had all been in her mind, that she had been glamorous and clean-cut. Really she had been overdone, under-dressed and coquette-like.

But then, who said there was nothing unattractive about that? She was Jessi after all, and she wasn't going to change for anybody except herself. She pitied the days when James had had that effect on her. She would have done anything for him, and he'd shitted her. Well she wasn't going to let that ever happen to her again. She deserved so much better than she was getting. She wasn't going to let Cassidy phase her, or let Misty irk her, or even let James speak to her.

She was renewed, refreshed, and reborn...

But then, what good was a new emancipated self with no one to share it with? Her mouth set itself into a tight frown, her eyebrows raised in thought, she turned again, looking towards the back of the bus. She didn't exactly see the desired figure, but the thought was there.

The thought was very much there.

She frantically smoothed back her wild flame of her with her palms, and applied a heavy coating of cherry lip-gloss.

Then, with a satisfied smile she sank back into her seat. Anyone would think she was trying to impress someone, but that wasn't on her cards at all. She was just happy, and she wanted the world to see it.

GARY

Gary waved to his friends and then traipsed comically to the back of the bus, winking happily at Gabby, who blushed, and quickly neglected her anxious bracelet twisting action.

"Hey Gary!" she called with her usual confidence, throwing James a worried glance, "Come sit next to me!" she gestured the space next to her with one hand.

"Righty-o, woman," he responded, using the metal handle on the seat in front of him to swing farcically onto Gabby's lap.

"Get off!" she giggled, pushing him over onto the vacant position next to her.

"But you love me," he grinned.

"Yeah," she said in joking resignation "I gotta love ya,"

Gary did a silly smile to play up his audience, silently thanking himself for being so wonderful. He looked discreetly at Cassidy, and her questioning look. For a second he thought he saw a little regret dance across her face, but within that instant it was gone.

Gary looked away, neglecting his comedious act, switching his mind to Cassidy. _Is it possible that,_ his overconfident mind asked, _that she is regretting not going out with me when I asked? After all, I am a highly desirable male, popular and single. Who _wouldn't_ want to go out with me?_

Cassidy, was the immediate response the more sensible side of his brain offered, _she loves Snap, not you. Look at how happy she is, would you try and break them up?_

He didn't respond, the sly smile spreading itself out like a snake across his face was answer enough.

JESSIBELLE

Gary was up to something, she could see it, and it probably concerned Gabby, seeing the two were so close.

She remembered asking Gabby about her relationship with Gary a while back, and Gabby had testified that she and Gary were best friends, nothing more. Jessibelle wondered wryly if Gabby still maintained her story.

__

If Gary and Gabby were to get together, it would be so cute, Jessibelle thought to herself. For a second she considered setting them up, but then by the look of Gary's smile, he had that plan in the bag.

And anyway, it had been a long time since Jessibelle had helped anyone other than herself, well sure, she had helped that pathetic no-hoper Joy to get friends, but that was only to annoy to Butch.

At her mentioning of his name, his face floated in front of her, in all its gothic glory. He had been looking full on feral recently, like he'd escaped from that dead-body place or whatever.

She turned to James, who seemed to be keeping rather quiet up in his corner of the back seat.

"What's wrong?" she asked, excited that she might find out some new and exciting gossip.

"Oh, nothing," he replied distantly, his eyes staring hollowly at her, his voice wavering monotonously. It was very clear that there most certainly was something wrong. Jessibelle found herself being interested for reasons beyond information.

"Yeah, some nothing," she scoffed, making direct eye contact "What is it?"

"Just stuff," he said gruffly, shaking his head.

His blunt answer didn't in any way deter her interrogation.

"Like what stuff?"

"Family stuff," he heaved eventually, as though saying it took great effort.

Jessibelle put a finger to her mouth, her eyes clouding over as she thought about her family troubles. Well, one of them, and that one was none other than Lucinda. Jessibelle still bore the scar on her forehead where her older sister had attacked her with a chair, and the emotional damage ran deep. Lucinda had forever bean so uncannily mean to her, and Jessibelle remained quite at a loss to why.

"I can understand that," Jessibelle nodded, hoping to gain his confidence by agreeing with him.

"You have no idea what it is like," he told her "I understand you're trying to help me, but really, you have no idea."

Jessibelle reared back, her courage dampened. But she never gave up, and she was taking it on as a challenge, rather than a simple friendly questioning.

"I do, trust me, see this scar on my forehead? I do understand."

James half-heartedly inspected it. 'That was Charlene, right?"

"Lucinda," Jessibelle corrected. Her statement was followed a by a long silence on James's part.

"Well it is nothing like that," James said at last.

"Well then what is it like? Is it like, you know, a guy thing?" Jessibelle prompted, swiveling all the way around in her seat so she was directly facing James.

James paused, as though considering the option of answering 'yes' to get her off his back, but he seemed to cancel out the idea.

__

James isn't very good at acting, Jessibelle cogitated, _perhaps I could give him a lesson or two._

"Look, Belle, I appreciate your help and the fact that you are taking an interest, and I know you really don't want to leave this bus without finding out, but it is really personal, OK?" James uttered in a fast-paced, agitated voice.

"Come on James, we're friends aren't we?" she persisted, tilting her head flirtatiously to the side.

"Jessibelle," he sighed, turning to her "Don't you know when to leave it alone? No wonder Butch looks like hell, you must have bloody dragged him through it,"

Jessibelle's face wrenched itself into a mask of shock. Sure, she admitted that she was a headstrong and determined person, but she was quite sure she knew when to give up on things. Never, you could never give up. James was just overreacting because he was sensitive about the topic.

"OK, when you are in a better mood, we'll, like, talk it over, OK?"

James replied with a thickened silence, his dull green eyes fixed on the scrawling scenery passing by the bus window.

LANCE

With a stiff, bored smile, Lance pretended to listen to the mellow conversation being exchanged by Kishi, Ash and Jenny. Hitmonchan was silent, Tracy engrossed in a book. On inspection Lance noted the book to be Mewtwo Strikes Back.

He and Hitmonchan had gone to see that at the cinema in Viridian, when he had been twelve. It had been so long ago since he had stood at the doors, his fresh face beaming with excitement. He had a photo of that day tucked away somewhere, a picture of Hitmonchan and himself with an arm around eachother, smiling a wicked smile of electrified excitement, pure anticipation of the movie.

Such a long time ago. Lance had never known himself to be as excited as that day, ever since he had left home.

That would have been about two or three months back. He'd spent a bit of time in various cities, then he had spent the money he'd earned doing battle with trainers on his education, a semester at Poketech High. Of course, he didn't have time to keep up his battling with all the emotional stress and homework Poketech had supplied him with, so he wondered how he was going to pay for the four semesters of school he had left. His PCE years...it was still pretty amazing for him to think that he was just over two terms away from them. Half a year away from his deciding courses.

He wanted to get heavily into Advanced Strategy, also do a lot of Metal Work too. Perhaps shift to medicine, though it was probably too late to change...but Gabby had changed out of Maths B (the dumb class) and into Maths A (the smart class) only a few weeks ago, so maybe it wasn't that late after all.

Lance had been surprised at how often Gabby was over at Kishi's house, or vice versa. He'd known they got along, but they were more like best friends then cousins. Last week had been the first time Kishi had left Lance alone in the house, with just her parents. It hadn't been as uncomfortable as he'd imagined, he really liked Mr. And Mrs. Ogawa. And they weren't prying into his past, as he'd been dreading ever since he'd moved in.

No-one except the Ogawa's knew he was staying there. Thankfully, every time Gabby was over Kishi had invited Ash or Gary or someone as well, so Gabby never really got suspicious. Lance wasn't particularly worried about her putting two and two together, she wasn't all that bright. Well, she might be good at Maths...but things kind of escaped her. She was a bit dreamy most of the time.

Freeing a large sigh, he risked a glance at Kishi. _What_, he asked himself, thinking back a few weeks,_ what exactly happened the day I moved in?_ The scene rushed back to him with a crashing swell of perplexed emotion. They had been alone in his new room, on his first day as part of her family, and he'd moved forward, touching her arm. She'd smiled and looked down, avoiding his gaze. Then she'd looked up at his face with glistening eyes and he'd sworn they'd been about to kiss.

But they hadn't. Kishi told him it was the quickest way to stuff things up. And she was completely right in that statement. But why was he still wishing something had happened?

SNAP

"I would rather be dead then eat cheese! I hate it!" Gabby lamented playfully, refusing the Vegemite Cheese Stick Gary was offering her.

"I love cheese!" he yelled, taking an exaggerated bite, accentuated with loud chewing and blissful grunts.

Cassidy made a choking face and buried her head in Snap's hair. "Snap!" she wailed "He's gross! Gabby! He's being gross! Stop him!"

"Oh, poor baby," Snap smirked, rubbing his girlfriend's shoulder. He paused, not really wanting to speak to Gary, the bane of his existence.

"Snap, man, these women are pissweak!" Gary hooted, thrusting the morsels of much ado under his nose. "Try some! You'll be instantly converted! I swear!"

Snap contemplated this proposal carefully. Gary didn't offer anybody anything unless it was disgusting, poisoned or rigged to blow up. He never shared his lunch or chips, not even with his best friends. If he wouldn't offer them a sip of Big M, what would he offer to someone he hated? It had to be laced with arsenic, that was the only explanation.

"I won't kiss you if you taste like cheese!" Cassidy hissed in mock viciousness. Snap silently thanked her for saving his life.

"Oh I couldn't have that, could I?" Gary sneered, suddenly turning mean.

Gabby clutched at his arm, making a desperate face.

"Watch it, Gary," Cassidy warned in the guarded voice that always meant a serious threat with her.

"Yes, Gary," Gabby said forcefully "Snap doesn't want any cheese,"

Snap mentally laughed to himself, about how Gary could get so worked up about not eating cheese, and he also sighed, because Gary had obviously gotten out of control, really, really mad at Snap, but Gabby and Cassidy hadn't really admitted it. Sure, they'd tried to calm him down, but they'd glossed it over and treated like a joke. It was that niggling dishonesty that really fed Snap up sometimes, the way no one he knew was open anymore.

"I'm allergic to cheese," Snap lied hurriedly to Gary, just as a desperate attempt to gain his approval "If it was something else weird, like Spam or a persimmon or leaves I'd do it..."

Gary winked at Cassidy and tapped the side of his nose. "I might just hold you to that one, Snap m'boy."

Snap swallowed firmly, wondering what he'd got himself into.

__

One day Gary will have to like me, Snap thought desperately, _I've been as nice as I could to him...He must have really loved Cassidy...a lot. _

Snap's brow seemed to collapse, the furrowed pressure releasing and giving way to a smooth, tranquil surface devoid of stress. Underneath his undisturbed face lay a worried thought, a worried, spiraling chain that was slowly weighing him down with uneasiness.

__

What if Gary loves her more than I do, and I don't love her enough? She deserves the one who loves her most...

His hands turned cold and clammy all of a sudden, the revelation hitting him and knocking him back with its impact.

__

And that one is Gary...

BROCK

Brock watched Misty wriggle uncomfortably in her seat with underlying interest. The way she had changed was fascinating on its own, but the way she looked was more the miracle.

Back when he had looked upon Misty as nothing more than the nice, little girl who was on and off with Ash, she had been pretty, but not overly appealing. Now, taking another look at her, he was astounded that he hadn't noticed her true beauty earlier.

Though there was the absolute, grounding force of affection he felt for Jenny, there was a wild, clandestine effect caused by Misty, an excited longing to be with her if for nothing but the sheerest thrill.

He wondered secretly if she had a boyfriend, as far as he knew, she was single, but he had heard her devotion lay within James. 

It was funny, the way someone as clearly gay as James could attract so many females when he, a specimen of such purity and gruff muscle, could not. The situation was almost exactly like Gary's. Gary was a total asshole, nasty and snappy, though he was almost always surrounded by a bustling gaggle of girls.

Brock couldn't help but wonder where he went wrong every time, why he was fated to have the big metaphorical 'L' for loser tattooed upon his forehead forever...

He couldn't help but wonder where it was that a woman's attraction came from, or what he could do to impress one.

He couldn't help but long for a stable, totally devoted, affectionate relationship. A relationship he'd hoped to achieve with Jenny, but it was his suspicion that she was a tiny bit apprehensive. 

Rubbing the edge of his fists in his eye sockets and yawning, he drew his attention away from Misty and settled back in his seat.

__

During camp, he told himself seriously, _you have to find some way to impress everyone and show them all how good you really are._

TRACY

While his eyes restlessly scanned the page before him, his mind focused on what he intended to make of the camp. All his life he had loved to fantasize about such things, about what lay around the corner, about who he would meet, about what would happen...

As a result he had often become disappointed when his outlandish daydreams fell, though within time he had stopped getting upset over the downfall. Now he was just happy to dream things up.

There were a lot of sequential reveries floating around in his mind too...starting with the very first day...

__

I'll be in a group with Ash, Lance, Gary and Hitmonchan...oh, and Brock, and we'll be the tent that wins the tent-putting-up competition. Then we'll be the fastest walkers, arriving back to the campsite first, and then we'll start a luscious campfire and then Kishi, Jenny and Joy will get back and then my eyes will meet Joy's through the flames...

The image created in his mind of his eyes locking with Joy's through the blazing orange flames lodged itself into the right side of his brain, and he instantly discarded his puffy novel for his sketchpad and pencil.

The first things that he drew were Joy's eyes, widened and full of adoration mixed with an electrifying shock.

Framed around them leapt remarkably abstract fire tongues, nimbly deficient of any emotion, starkly contrasting the pure tenderness captured in the sapphire globes sparkling with excitement.

He started to add Joy's fringe shimmering with the jumping, erratically waving light, but then realised that the picture was far too revealing of his emotions to display the final detail of identity. He quickly flipped his pencil over and rubbed the strands of hair out. He instead added to the towering flames, and then blackened the background to that of a very dark night sky.

Tilting his head he held the drawing at a relaxed arm length to gauge what he needed to add to it. He quickly put the book back on his lap and shaded the lower corners of the fire.

__

And then our eyes will look away, he continued, _and all will be forgotten until the next day when fate will have us paired up for a bushwalk and we will discover a gorgeous, mossy little glen and then I will turn to her..._

He stopped, hanging his head. His fantasy so romantic it was embarrassing. Were any guys as soppy as he was? He had always been so sweetly softhearted, and ever-so creative. The perfect combination for a romantic fairy-tale daydream, as far as he was concerned. He didn't even know if girls dreamt like he did, and he was fairly sure that no other guys did.

__

I'm not gay, he told himself carefully, _if I was I would know it, and I'm not bi either. I'm straight...but just romantically inclined..._

Feeling shamefully embarrassed about the conversation in his mind he shut off for a few minutes, concentrating wholly on the scene he was illustrating. He wiped his brow, even though no sweat had beaded upon it, and ran a casual hand through his longish green hair.

He then slammed the cover of his skethpad down so that it made a noise as loud as one could muster with a flimsy piece of cardboard and stowed it safely in his bag.

KISHI

"So," she said quietly to Ash, leaning across the aisle to speak to him "Do you think you'll be OK with Misty over camp? Are you worried she'll crack it at you again?"

Ash's voice cracked as he said his reply, as though bits of it were flaking off and floating gracefully to the ground. "No...I'm really worried, Kishi. I don't think she'll ever forgive me for being such a pig,"

With that sentence relieved from his mouth, little tears accumulated in the corners of his chocolate coloured eyes.

Kishi immediately reached over and held his hand in hers, stroking in a gentle, sisterly way. "Oh Ash," she whispered, her voice getting caught in her throat "Don't think that...this is Misty remember, we've known her all our lives, of course she'll forgive you. She hasn't changed inside, remember, she's still the little girl she was back then,"

"I don't know," Ash sighed, though there was evident relief in his straightened posture. "She sure seems different,"

"Yeah," Kishi agreed in softened tones, as though she were humoring a small child "She is different, but only on the outside. She'll change," Kishi promised.

"When?" Ash asked with a small sniff, on the verge of tears again.

"Soon, I hope," Kishi responded, reaching over and putting an arm around Ash "Just to spare the pain she's bound to cause us all,"

"Kishi?" Ash spoke suddenly and sharply

"What?"

"I love her,"

"I know,"

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Default Chapter Title

Forecast- He's liked her from afar for so long now, and finally, he has been convinced to ask her out. What will James say, and more importantly, what will Gabby answer?

James isn't the only man with his eyes on someone, Tracy has his affections too, but why does Lance care so much?

What is happening to Misty? Is she returning to her old self, and are her feelings for Ash being restored?

INFORMATION- In case you are wondering why the Poketech gang are on camp, it is a replacement for the Year 11 Leader Training Camp. Year 11 Leader camp is organised completely by the students, an assessment needed to be passed before they are allowed to start training, to prove they can look after their environment and are responsible and independent. However after several students dropping out before their PCE (Pokemon Certificate of Education, the equivalent to the eight badges in the Indigo League Zone) years, the camp was dropped to year Ten. Giving prospective trainers the chance to collect badges in the field, without going through all of their schooling.

ASH

Ash's stomach flip-flopped with excitement as he exited the bus in his usual fashion, with a large jump off the top step. He looked around a bit, taking in the pastel colours of the field just East of Lavender Town where the buses stopped in order for pick-up by the four wheel drives. There were three of them due to come, driven by the teachers who had all left the bus in lavender to get them, and the guideline for their trips was to simply cram everybody in.

He scanned the field briefly as he made his way to the boot of the bus to collect his pack. It was a nice field, the grass short and lime green, dusted with pale violets. Everyone was making himself or herself comfortable on the grass, lying down and napping, talking...Gary and James were kicking their football again.

He struggled past Jessibelle at the boot and located his black and yellow pack. Taking in a deep breath he hauled it out and dropped it unceremoniously upon the side of the road.

"Bit heavy, eh?" Gabby grinned, struggling over to him with her pack slung over one shoulder, which was notably more close to the ground then the other.

"Not for a tough man like me," Ash said hurriedly "And, Gabs, the idea is to use both shoulder straps, the chest strap and the waist straps."

"But I won't look cool then," Gabby said with a grin.

"You look like a freak now," Ash laughed "let me give you a hand,"

Ash ran to the back of Gabby and hoisted the other strap over her shoulder.

"That better?" he asked, trotting back to her front "I'd do up your other straps...but they are in rather inconvenient places,"

"You sure you don't want to?" Gabby purred seductively.

"Very much so," Ash nodded, moving back to his own pack. "Orrrr..." he groaned, as though under enormous strain, which he was, in the act of trying to burden his shoulders with the weight of the pack.

Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, appeared Misty with her pack strapped up properly, emphasising by her light walk the fact that the pack weighed next to nothing.

"Having trouble, Ashy Boy?"

"No," he said quietly and quickly "Not at all,"

Misty scoffed, tilting her head at him with amusement. Her mouth curved into a smile and her cheeks gained a pleasant flush "You're such a freak," she laughed, avoiding making eye contact with him. She then turned and bounced away.

"Rrr...what is her _problem_?" Gabby growled, shaking a clenched fist in Misty's general direction "She used to be such a wet hen, but now she is just a total bitch!"

Ash vaguely felt himself nod, but his mind was far too preoccupied to care. He remembered back to Year 8 when he and Misty had been racing eachother home from school. He'd made a detour through someone's front yard and picked Misty a bunch of flowers, then he sprinted as fast as he could up to her. She'd taken them and smiled deeply, her cheeks flushing the same colour as the rose petals she was holding in her hand.

She'd then leant over and kissed him playfully on the cheek. "You're such a freak," she had uttered in the same playful, half-bemused tone.

Was there some kind of significance in her statement? Surely if she could replay that scene as well as he could there was something connected. A hidden meaning, perhaps. It then occurred to him that it was the first half-nice thing Misty had said to him since her change, all those weeks ago...it wasn't that long ago in figures, but the endurance he'd suffered of all her cruel words had so prolonged the time.

JENNY

Jenny lay back against her pack, using it to support her head, soaking up the beautiful morning sunlight.

Across from her, sitting slightly to her right, was Kishi.

"Nice day for it, eh?" Kishi murmured, adopting a lying down position.

"Yeah," Jenny agreed wholeheartedly, her heart beginning to thump excitedly. Camp was going to so much fun, and...

Jenny turned her head to face the left and saw Ash flirting with Gabby. Or Gabby flirting with Ash. Whichever.

__

And you were ABOUT _to say it would be a great chance to be with Ash..._ she thought with an element of bitter surprise. She pursed her lips, _what is he doing? He hasn't really seemed interested in her before...he's only really gone for me...I guess._

"The four wheel drives are here!" came a cry from Gary "And I bags the pretty white one!"

Jenny pushed herself up hastily, slipping her arms through her shoulder straps and jerkily standing up.

She noted right away that two of the three vehicles were white (mud-caked of course) and one was a dark green, belonging to the school outdoor Ed coordinator, their new PE teacher, Wendy Lawson, who insisted that people called her by her first name. Claimed it was more personal. Misty had then made an unpleasant remark about prostitution. She'd scored a detention.

Jenny and Kishi made their way in a brisk walk to the jeep behind Gary's 'pretty white one'. Unfortunately it was the jeep that Misty was heading for too. Upon reaching the transport Misty reached out and opened the boot, throwing her pack in roughly.

Jenny waited for Misty to slam to the door down, leaving her enemies to open it for themselves, but Misty calmly sped away and claimed the front seat.

"GABBY!" Kishi called, waving as she dumped her baggage alongside Jenny's and Misty's. "Come in this jeep!"

Gabby, who was over at the green jeep with Cassidy, James, Belle, Joy and Snap, bit her lower lip and threw both groups a deciding glance. She raised her eyebrows at Cassidy and jerked her thumb in the direction of her cousin.

Jenny left the boot open for Gabby to stow her pack in and let herself into the back of the four wheel drive, claiming the window seat on the right, and Kishi took the one on the right. A few seconds later Gabby pushed Kishi playfully into the middle seat, taking the left seat for herself.

The doors slammed and their driver, Wendy turned the key, and the engine spluttered itself into a roar.

"This is going to suck so badly," Misty hissed, not one known for her great love of physical activity "I hate it already."

Kishi bit her lip like she wanted to say something, but wasn't quite sure what, and Gabby just crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows in disgust. Jenny tried to look disinterested, staring out the window as they drove straight ahead.

She watched the bushland scrolling by, shrubby heath bushes and dogwood. Occasional stands of native grass dotted the clearing.

Ahead of the 4x4 on the bumpy dirt track was a sudden stretch of bushland. Stretch...well it was an entire mountain range, the mountain range she supposed she'd be hiking over the two weeks. She craned her neck upward to see if she could see the top of the mountains. They were tall. Very tall.

"You look like a dick," Misty said smoothly, her body twisted around in the grey seat so she could look down her nose at Jenny.

"Language!" Wendy reprimanded

Jenny jerked uncomfortably, her mouth tightening. "Get a life, whore," 

"What?" Misty exclaimed haughtily, laughing.

"You heard me, whore, or are you deaf?"

MISTY

"You heard me, whore, or are you deaf?"

Deaf...Misty suddenly went very pale, shrinking back into her seat. She shivered. _Deaf...death...death...deaf sounds so much like death...shit, death doesn't seem real. How could I have come so close? Shit I almost lost it, shit. Shit, shit, shit, oh f*** I came so close to death. Suicide. Shit, shit, shit...what the f*** was I thinking? I can't believe I came so close, it seems so unreal now, so unreal here. Everything here is what it is, everything now is what it is, it everything was nothing back then...shit. Oh shit._

Hysterical tears streamed from Misty's eyes, her hands shaking as she tried to wipe them back.

"Oh Misty," Kishi murmured from behind her.

Misty felt Kishi's warm hand touch her bare arm, the sensation causing more tears to gush.

"Misty, it's OK...hey, it's OK, Misty," Kishi soothed, rubbing her arm "What's wrong?"

"I was close...so close...oh shit Kishi, I was so close..." Misty stammered, unaware of the flow of clear mucus from her nose.

Misty hunched forward suddenly, jerking her arm away from Kishi's fingertips.

"Are you alright, Misty?" Wendy asked with concern

"Does she look it?" Kishi said quickly, surprising herself with how easily she would still rush to Misty's defence, even after what Misty had dragged her and Ash through.

"Do you want to talk about it, Misty?" Wendy asked with the same concern as before, a concern feigned by those who cared not for the sufferer, but for the good job report ensured afterwards. Wendy was PE teacher, and feelings weren't really her forte. 

Misty ignored the insincere woman and turned to Gabby. "Don't tell anyone I cried," she muttered "Nor you, Jenny."

Misty turned to face the angelic smile of Kishi. "Thankyou so much Kishi...I won't forget you, ever...you have been the greatest friend...but if you understand, I don't feel like talking..."

"Of course I understand," Kishi supported "But when you do...please come to me..."

Misty didn't reply, inwardly cursing herself for letting down her constant glacial front for a second, for letting her emotions shine through. She sniffed, wiping a finger under her nose. Now she had lost all of the fearful respect she'd gained over the weeks, all because Jenny had mentioned a word that due to depression effected interpretation Misty had likened to another word.

Regret washed over her, if only she could go back in time and face Jenny squarely, and tell the slut where to stick it.

She wondered if Ash would find out about her outburst...she wondered what he'd think of her...she wondered if he would try to comfort her...lastly she wondered why she cared so much.

JAMES

"Shit, Belle is hot," Gary declared to Butch and James in the back seat. 

In the front sat Jessi, looking uncomfortable and blushing.

"Beauty is only skin deep, beneath the skin lies the decaying wreck the soul has contaminated," Butch commented.

"Yeah..." James said, wondering what on Earth Butch meant. It had been ages since he and Butch had indulged in a conversation, probably not since Jessibelle had dumped him.

"So is Cass," Gary grinned.

James thought back to the year before, Cassidy and Butch had been inseparable best friends, this year they had drifted apart.

"I liked her hair short," James commented, toying with his own silken lavender tresses.

"I think that her hair gives no addition of beauty whatsoever..." Butch said, his face falling.

Ever the sensitive one, James wondered if Butch was missing Belle and Cass. It couldn't help that groundless Gary was busy fantasising about them aloud. Gary muttered some comments about the size of some bodily features and James tuned out. He was more interested in what Butch had to say.

"Do you miss Belle and Cass?"

"The acid corrodes my palest flesh and I wish not for its return," Butch responded with a blank face.

"So, that is, a yes, then?" James asked, not too clear on what Butch's metaphor represented, or actually what a metaphor was.

"No. Jessibelle invaded my system and I am finally free of the symptoms her virus gave me. I don't miss her. Not for what she did to me."

James tilted his head like a confused Eevee, biting his lower lip "Do you think, that well...uh, you know it, er...that it was your...well _partly_ your fault...?"

"'Course it was," Gary jumped him without thinking about the consequences, as usual "He slept with Joy, remember? She isn't half bad though..."

Butch shot Gary a disgusted look. "You all think I'm being stupid don't you, all the black and the poetry...you think that I've gone off my nut or something, don't you?"

"No! Not at all!" James defended quickly, feeling guilty for the exact thoughts that Butch was describing 

"Well..." Gary began jokily, but then he could James's pleading glance. James was surprised that the usually emotionally oblivious Gary had picked up the signal. "Nah, mate...I reckon you're doing a good thing...setting an example...or whatever..."

"You're lying...you don't think this is me at all...and you'd be right," Butch trailed off, closing his side of the conversation off.

James looked at Jessi in the front seat as they went over a bump in the dirt track. She had the kind of smug expression on her face that he'd seen before on Cassidy. The look that said 'I'm not perfect, but there are others far more screwed up than me'. Except Cassidy's look proclaimed that she was perfect.

He thought back to Jessi's threat. She hadn't struck him yet, but when would she? The fact that she had waited this long for her revenge scared him slightly, he was losing the scorn and ridicule he'd placed upon her, and her words no longer hung hollow. 

He was worried she'd try to upset things between he and Gabby, he was on precarious enough ground with her at the moment to let Jessi create havoc with an earthquake. There had once been a time when he had fun with Jessi, she'd been fiercely protective of him, in almost a sisterly way, until half way through year 9. Then she fallen head over heels for him, her conniving bitchiness reverting all of the good feelings he had for her into traces of annoyance. He suddenly longed to be reciting the spontaneous poems that they spouted, with an arm around her waist and a hand in the air.

Exhaling gently his focused his gaze to the window. They were the leading jeep, the two others trailed behind them. The bumpy dirt track ran along cleared land, but it was cut into the top of a fairly tall ridge. Probably one hundred metres ahead of them was the bushland that he supposed would become his new home. It was quite pretty, but it was daunting.

James wasn't a very outdoors person, not like Jessi, who was fiery and fit and always ready to go, with generous positivity...well she had been like that, once. Plenty of energy to spare, so much fun to be with. Now she looked like a scallop shell that had had the scallop slurped out of it. Poor Jessi.

As the four wheel drive passed under the tall ironbark trees the morning light and shadows mingled, playing games upon the faces of his travelling partners. The light looked so obscure against the blackened eyes of Butch, as though it didn't belong. Butch's bleak moods were so unlike his old self, a squeaky-voiced teen who enjoyed nothing more than hanging out with his friends and playing football. He had up until recently wanted to play professionally for the Cerulean Seadras, the local National Football League team. Now he supposed Butch wanted to a poet or author. He sniggered to himself, _an author...what kind of dead-beat life would that be?!_

The vehicle swerved to the right suddenly, heading down a very steep dirt road. The road careered down the side of the hill, flagged by various species of native trees. A small green shrub sprouted in the centre of the course. As they drove over the top of it, it sprung down with unusual elasticity. James couldn't but feel scared inside, it wouldn't take much to send this jeep rolling down to the bottom of the hill, where they would crash and burn. Nobody would find the bodies either...

The car jerked to the right again, skidding down a fairly straight stretch of road until they stopped.

"This is where we get out kids. Wendy will lead you down into creek, which you will follow for a k or so, until you come across a clearing. Then you'll stop and wait, have a drink, whatever. When you are down there, OBEY WHATEVER Wendy says." Ordered Mr. Gyabunga.

"Yep," Gary answered for everybody, opening his car door and sliding out. James too, exited the vehicle, stretching and rubbing his eyes. He moved to the back where everyone was strapping his or her packs up. With a great haul, he dragged it out of the boot and onto his shoulders, it was bloody heavy.

Straining a little under the weight that was throwing him off balance, he tightened his straps and buckled them up, slamming the boot door and signalling Mr. Gyabunga safe leave.

Two of the jeeps trucked off again for the second pick-up, leaving Kishi, Jenny, Misty, Gabby, Snap, Cassidy, Jessibelle, Joy, Gary, Jessi, Butch and himself under the power of their guide, the amazingly fit PE teacher Wendy.

"I'd begin my lectures now," Wendy joked apologetically "But I want you to all soak it up. Enjoy the splendour of nature," she gestured grandly.

James glanced around. Jessibelle was admiring the splendour of her face in the mirror that dwelled constantly in her pocket. Gary was enjoying the splendour of the packet of Milkies that he was devouring. Misty was enjoying the splendour of applying a fresh coat of eyeliner. The only one who looked geared to enjoy the splendour of nature was Snap, who had his expensive camera around his neck, ready for whatever photographic action was to come up.

"OK, kids, down this road. There will be no intersections or paths to follow, just stay on the road. When you reach the foot of the hill, wait there for the others. Got it?" Wendy commanded with an excited little foot-hop.

James threw a flirtatiously shy smile at Gabby and started on his way.

JESSI

Jessi boredly glanced around her surroundings as she began to descend the first hill of camp. There wasn't much to see, just a lot of trees. The road was sloped a little, on about a 15-degree angle.

She couldn't help but smile. She could tell that there were going to be many challenges brought by this camp, and wanted to take up every one. It had been a long time since that passionate side in her personality had reared its head, and it was peeping up now, empowering her with a dynamic vivacity, an enthusiasm unseen over the past few weeks.

During the time of her exams she had withdrawn herself completely from all others, and instead of using her previously social occupied time to study, she'd taken a job at McDonalds, trying to learn a little bit extra, at least enough for some nice clothes.

But she hated working, there was always a litre of grease on her hands from scooping out the horrid fries, and she usually got stuck on night-shift, which meant scrubbing the place from top to toe, even though she was being paid overtime.

The work, however, was paying off, she was wearing one of the fruits of her labour as she trundled down that hill in the middle of the group of teenage schoolchildren. The item of clothing wasn't very flashy, a nice dark blue T-Shirt she'd found one afternoon, but she was proud of it.

Jessi looked ahead, past Gary's dancing frame, where the road sharply turned a corner. Beyond that corner she couldn't see much, but it looked darker, given there seemed to be a large number of leafy green treetops shading the road. Even she had to admit, it looked rather nice. 

Snap was thinking so too, clicking away as he walked underneath them.

Jessi couldn't help but feel a little envious of Cassidy, having such a sweet boyfriend, even if at first she had dismissed him as a geek. He'd proved many times over that he was one of the nicest, most romantic guys around. Of course it was a shame that Jessi hadn't been anything but an observer on those occasions, but she had her reasons not to hang around.

She had come to the conclusion that Cassidy was jealous of her, perhaps paranoid that Jessi could take Snap away from her or something. Jessi hadn't the heart to tell her that Snap wasn't her type, if anyone would have been her type, she would have guessed it was Chopper, but he turned out to be one of the world's biggest jerks. Now she thought about it, her taste in guys did lack some forethought. She'd gone out with Butch for about two weeks before they'd broken up, she'd been out on two dates with Gary, and she'd unsuccessfully tried to meet up with James.

That was a name she had grown unfamiliar with over the course of her separation, her ex-best friend. The last time she had spoken to him she had barged into his house and threatened him. The corners of her crimson coloured lips curved into a smile. She hadn't even thought seriously about what she would actually do to him, she just warned him that she was going to do it. Perhaps she'd let her Ekans loose in his sleeping bag or something.

She loved her Ekans to pieces, even as useless as it was, she loved it. Unlike many of her rich and privileged peers who had their Persians and Ninetales bought and delivered to them, Jessi had caught her Pokemon after a family trip through Mt. Moon. It had been a guided tour, and Miranda had thrown up all day, she was far too sick to go, so it was just her, mum and dad together. Like a family on TV, enjoying the day out.

There was still no word from her father. Jessi cursed him under her breath, hating him for walking out like he had. Perhaps he would get back in touch while she was on camp. If so, she would find out on the weekend when she returned home.

Shivering after stepping into the sudden shadows cast by the trees, Jessi's thoughts returned to Pokemon. All of her life she had been scorned by her friends who had expensive Pokemon. Butch and his Scyther, James and his Koffing shipped specially from Cinnabar Island, Cassidy with her pedigree Rattata, even though Rattata was a common Pokemon, Cassidy's Rattata was the purest of its kind, already worth eight times a wild-caught one. Or more.

Jessi had never been that good at battling, she was far too short tempered to order commands without flying off the handle. Cassidy shared a similar problem, battling to the best of her ability when circumstances were good, but if she suspected the chance of her defeating the opponent was slim, she'd crack it and walk off. She had too short a fuse and too big an ego to be any good at what she was doing.

Too big an ego to any good at keeping friends.

GABBY

Gabby threw her arms around Gary, feeling a sudden surge of love for him.

"Whoa, Gabs, what was that for?" he asked with a puzzled smile.

"Cos I love you,"

James gave her a funny look, and Cassidy and Snap looked up from making out.

"I love you all!" Gabby cried out "Kishi!" she hollered "I love you!"

A few moments later Kishi responded with "Me too..."

Gabby grinned happily, riding on some kind of high.

"What have you been smoking?" Belle demanded "And where's mine?". Joy, Belle's little follower, giggled foolishly, as she did with everything Belle did.

"The vibes, man, the vibes..." Gabby laughed, attempting to twirl on her toes, but coming close to falling flat on her face. "These packs are scary..." she laughed as Gary tried to steady her.

Gabby exhaled loudly, looking around her. She was in a shadowed section of the track. To her right was a mossy little valley with a small creek running through it. To her left was the side of the mountain that the track had been cut into. It all looked like it would be so much fun.

"So," James said "What do you think of Jessi?"

Gabby immediately pulled out of hyperactivity mode and into normal mode, therefore lowering the tone and pitch of her voice. "I don't know. I used to like her, she was wicked fun, but now, she's gone all-quiet. She used to be so funny, with her failed plans to wag and stuff..."

James laughed wistfully "Remember the time she insisted that if we wagged the cross country at the swamp, we wouldn't get caught,"

"It was a pity the cross country ran through the swamp and we were caught," Gabby sighed in an exhalation laced with nostalgia.

JAMES

James's heart sped up as he threw a discreet glance at Gabby's face. She had the kind of peaceful, serene smile that you saw on the paintings of Madonnas by the Old Masters. He smiled inwardly, realising that he had learnt at least one thing from the infernally tortuous art classes he'd been taking. The other thing about her face was the confidence and openness it held, it was the kind of face that belonged to someone sure of their place in life, sure of their beauty and knowledge, the face of an angel...

Love struck, the realisation hit him, Gabby was the perfect being he'd ever met before...

"Yo, James?" she asked, waving a delicate hand in front of his face.

"Hey? What? I'm sorry, Gabs, what were you saying?" James apologised, flushing slightly.

"Nothing, it was just you were off on Cloud Nine," Gabby supplied.

"I am," James said without thinking. He knew his feelings for Gabby, but she didn't yet know his. He needed to speak to some people. Any other time, he wouldn't bother; he'd ask the object of his affection out straight away, because he always knew they'd say yes. Gabby he couldn't be sure of, she always seemed a little out of his reach. There was no one to speak to though. Gary was emotionally redundant, Butch far too depressing, Jessibelle a vicious gossip, Snap and Cassidy too busy making out to bother with a reply. And Jessi...well, he wouldn't dream of confiding in her, not if she still had suppressed fondness towards him.

Out of all of those people, Snap seemed his best bet, but he'd need a crowbar to pry him for his amorous embraces with Cass. His next best bet was, Gary...

"Yo James, as much as I love ya, I need to talk to Belle for a minute, okay? Cool!"

Without waiting for his response, Gabby jogged ahead, a little awkwardly though, due to the altered centre of gravity caused by her unwieldy pack.

James saw his opportunity to discuss things with Gary, so he sped to catch up, noticing that he and Gabby had dropped back throughout the course of their conversation.

"Hey, Gary, man, can I ask you something, just for a moment, privately?" James asked.

"Yeah, sure, what is it, dude?" Gary inquired, halting to scratch his neck so that they would be further behind, out of Belle the Rumour Queen's earshot.

"It's about, uh, a girl..." James whispered.

"Oh...who?" Gary cooed "I didn't know you liked anyone...hmm...is it Belle?"

"No..." James said hesitantly "It's...Gabby,"

"_REALLY?!_" Gary exploded rather loudly "Man, I had NO idea!"

"Should I ask her out...?" James questioned. "I mean, nobody has ever said no to me before, because I am ever so handsome...but...well, I _really_ like her, lots"

"I think you have an ego problem, not a girl problem, mate," Gary advised "Besides, I am the good looking one. But enough small talk, to the matters of the heart we shall leap... Gabby, eh? Sure, why not ask her?"

"Because I really like her and if she rejected me...I don't know what I would do..."

"Who cares? Just be confident and ask her out. You've never been this unsure before."

"Because I have never felt this way before..." James sighed, looking at his feet.

"Sounds dumb," Gary shrugged, enlightening James with his well-informed and provocative opinion on the matter "Just ask her out. She'll probably say yes. First offer she's 'ad in a while, you know,"

"Didn't she say she loved you five minutes ago?" James worried, biting his lip.

"She was just stuffing around," Gary shrugged "All this talking is boring. If anyone ever bothered to listen to us they'd die of boredom. Did you watch the footy last night?"

"Agh..." James moaned "You think I should ask her...OK, OK, when we get to the camping site."

He drew in a deep breath. Today was the day when everything he'd thought over the past six weeks would be tied with the words he was going to have to speak, it was time to take action. He was going to ask Gabby Ogawa out.

LANCE

Lance, Hitmonchan, Brock, Ash and Tracy stood at the top of the hill. 

"OK, guys, this is it. If we walk fast, we might be able to catch up to the other groups." Mr. Gyabunga said cheerfully, his hands on his hips, his eyes scanning the wilderness that faced them.

Lance adjusted his wraparound sunglasses with his middle finger, pushing further up onto the bridge of his nose.

"Excited, Brocko?" he asked, taking the first step towards the adventure that would befall them all.

"Yep. Perhaps I'll catch some rock Pokemon," he nodded "Or, well, you know...Jenny and I..."

Ash, the innocent, naive child, blushed, and Tracy's eyes darkened suddenly.

"*Yeah, perhaps Leela is there,*" Hitmonchan declared, nudging Brock.

A few minutes later, Ash, Brock and Hitmonchan were leading, with Tracy and Lance a few steps behind.

"Hey Lance?" Tracy asked abruptly.

"Mm?" Lance murmured in reply looking up from the scrolling ground beneath his feet.

"What do you think about Kishi? She seems really nice..."

Alarm bells started to chime in Lance's head. It was seeming like Tracy was asking a rather personal question, alluding to a certain girl, whom he may have feelings for. Lance probably wouldn't have minded if it were Jenny or Cass or someone else, but after living with Kishi for about three weeks, he was feeling closer to her than ever before...and a feeling of closeness inevitably brings...stronger feelings...

"Yeah," he said quickly "She's really nice. Not too popular though,"

"People seem to like her..." Tracy mumbled.

"Guys don't. She hasn't had a boyfriend in ages." Lance supplied, shocking himself with how easily the lie was flowing from his mouth, leaving a sharp metallic taste behind. "It's not that she isn't a nice enough girl, she's a psychic"

Tracy stopped walking. "Really?" he gaped "Really? No jokes? I never noticed..."

He started walking again.

"Yeah, she reads minds, lifts things up and stuff." Lance shrugged, making it sound as though it were no big deal, besides it wasn't, considering he could do better.

"She reads minds?" Tracy repeated, "Oh...agh, shit..."

Lance's brain smiled to itself, he was obviously having the desired effect on Tracy.

"Men don't like to be around her. They find out too much about themselves," he said "Look at James, they went on one date together and he broke down."

"When?" Tracy demanded.

"A month or so back, before your time. He is pretty much in tears," Lance provided generously.

"So she's using her powers to stuff around with minds?" Tracy analysed.

"No, she's a nice person, but anyone who spends time with her, well, it all ends the same way."

"Oh." Tracy mumbled, and then as an afterthought, he added "She's pretty cute though."

"Really? You think so?" Lance gawped in false surprise "I suppose she is OK, in an unattractive, plain, practical way."

Tracy blushed, biting his lower lip in an unsure way. "So, is she, taken?"

"Taken?" Lance said, doing a discreet double take. After all he had said to discourage Tracy, he was still interested in Kishi. Lance began to wonder why he cared so much, and why he was bothering with the lie. Then he started to feel guilty. 

"Yeah, you know, does she have a boyfriend?" Tracy translated.

Lance shook his head vigorously to dislodge the feelings. "Nope. Not in ages. Not since James. Poor, sad James." 

Tracy nodded thoughtfully, his eyes dark and far away. "In your opinion...is she worth it?"

Lance blinked a few times, his eyes decidedly moist, though for what reason, was unsure. His mind said 'Yes, yes, Tracy, she is, and even though I see her everyday when I wake up, I still notice it.'

"No, she brings bad luck. She's too much effort. Leave her well alone, you will only regret it."

Lance broke off from the conversation then, his last sentence taking a violent double meaning.

KISHI

"Hey Kishi?" Jenny spoke, ending the short silence between them.

"Yeah?"

"What happened with Misty before? I mean, there she was, looking evil, the next thing you know, she was in tears."

"You did call her a whore." Kishi said forcefully, filling in the details "Twice."

"Yeah but, I know she can be a real girlie-girlie wimp sometimes, but please, Kishi, she was honestly pathetic."

"Why are you being so mean?" Kishi demanded, her footsteps hastening.

"I thought you'd agree, after everything she's put you through." Jenny told her lightly, shrugging off the remark about her attitude on the girl.

Kishi paused to think back. Ever since Misty had awakened from a suicide-induced coma, she had made Ash, Kishi and Jenny's lives hell, as well as those who happened to get in her way. She'd slapped Ash in his own home, screamed vile insults at Jenny, and emotionally tormented Kishi.

Kishi wasn't the type to cry easily, but something about what she was trying to say was brining salt water to her eyes. "I know you think it is crazy, but Misty and I were best friends, and I don't think an attachment like that can be forgotten so easily."

"Watch what you think. Misty is a manipulative, spiteful, backstabbing bitch who can't be trusted with her own life, much less the lives of those around her."

"Jenny, just get over it. I'm not blind. I know why you hate Misty," Kishi snapped out of the blue "It isn't because of what she's been doing, it is because of her. More like her and Ash. So leave Misty out of it, forget the way things were before you moved, and get on with your life."

Jenny reeled back, shocked, as anyone would be if they had just received a bombardment such as that from one of the most passive, peaceful people in the entire school.

"What the hell are you saying? That I love Ash?!" her voice cracked as she grabbed Kishi by the shoulder and pulled her to a standstill. 

"Girls!" as worried voice suddenly scolded "Get away from there!"

Kishi and Jenny fixed their eyes on the speaker, Wendy, perplexed.

"That tree you are under is about to fall!"

Jenny and Kishi looked up at the tree. It was ancient, extremely tall, white and leafless due to death, and fixed firmly to the ground.

"That tree isn't falling." Jenny pointed out.

"It will though. Because its dead its roots have lost grip on the ground. It will fall, you know."

Jenny, in a mood for argument, crossed her arms. "But this road is cut into a hill. The side of the hill that the tree is on, is the downhill side. It would fall downhill." She gestured to her left.

"Jenny! It isn't like you to be so quarrelsome!" Wendy accused, shocked. "Please, for your safety, just walk down that hill as fast as you can. It is the last bit, and see down to your left, that little clearing, we'll wait there for Ash's group to catch up."

Jenny took purposefully slow strides as she passed under the span of the old trees branches, glaring at Wendy the whole way.

Kishi let out an exasperated sigh, annoyed with Jenny. Jenny might like to think that she was the individual who was right, but when she acted like nobody, least of all a psychic, could see through her, Kishi felt like abandoning her.

JAMES

James took full use of the pause for lunch they were having in the clearing at the base of the hill. He let his pack drop from shoulders and sighed in relief, for a great tonnage had just been removed.

Kishi and Jenny were making sandwiches on a picnic blanket, the sun was shining, Gabby's beautifully trilling laughter was sounding and life was good.

"Hey!" a voice called from a little way off "they have food! I want food too, first! Hey, me first!". It was Ash. Wanting to be first, big surprise.

James looked at Misty, wondering how she'd react to his immaturity. She was looking up at his running frame as it rapidly descended the mountain, a smile welded to her face.

James couldn't help but smile too, even enemies were getting along. Enemies...Jessi...

James's smooth brow furrowed under the sudden oily burden of worry. He was worried that she was going to pull off something dodgy to detract any attraction Gabby may have for him. 

"This is like Survivor or Shipwrecked, you know, sixteen people on an island, OK, school camp, challenges, getting voted off..." Gary announced "The first person I'll vote off is Ash because I don't want to catch _loseritis_ and have to go home."

"Do we vote people off the island?" James asked, wondering how he had overlooked a fact like that. He began to stress, what if he was going to get voted off?

"I'm just kidding," Gary said, amused at what James assumed could only he his stupidity.

"That'd be right..." James muttered as we watched Gabby's eyes turn upwards at the corners. _She's laughing at me too_.

"Want a sandwich, James?" Kishi offered, breaking his embarrassed silence.

"No...uh, thanks, I've already got...stuff,"

What James didn't mention was his 'stuff' was a salmon and rocket gourmet sandwich, lovingly prepared by their cook, with a chilly thermos of iced coffee to drink.

Kishi's cheese and ham sandwich sounded rather pale in comparison.

"So what did you bring for morning snack?" Gabby inquired, tearing open a packet of chips.

"I bought a wholesome, nutritious snack," Snap grinned "Cheezels, anyone?"

James looked away. He and Gabby were from two different worlds. Croissants and butter for him the morning, Weet-Bix for her. 

"I'll be your wholesome snack," Cassidy proclaimed in her famous purr, not really bothering to let him finish chewing before she pounced upon him.

"Oh, ew!" Gary exclaimed "He hadn't finished his food...oh that is gross..."

James suddenly didn't feel like eating his lunch anymore.

SNAP

Snap couldn't help but be a little embarrassed about Cassidy's overly public affections, after all, he and his girlfriend were making out only a few feet away from their snappy outdoor ed coordinator.

He didn't doubt that he loved her. He didn't doubt that she loved him, though such doubt was very much part of his nature. What he did doubt however, was to be the length of their relationship now, in these new, trying circumstances.

Cassidy was a passionate person, and Snap, well, he was more of a romantic. Snap knew Cassidy got annoyed when Snap refused her. Something inside of Snap made him want to stay a virgin a little while longer.

He loved Cassidy, but he didn't really want to lose it to her. He wasn't _in_ love with her...at least, that was what he thought.

He knew people like Gary would kill for a girl like Cassidy, someone strong, yet undeniably desiring. It made him feel bad, as though perhaps he wasn't the right guy for her, but he didn't want to feel that.

He didn't want to feel it because it felt so right.

MISTY

Misty looked up from her chip packet to see Ash run breathless and red-faced into the clearing; his eyes fixed greedily upon the food Kishi and Jenny were preparing.

She longed to make a sly remark about his hunger, but after forgetting her icy aura so many times, she didn't want to risk it. Everyone might think she'd turned mellow. Instead she fixed a stony glare upon his face, and when he noticed, she turned her head away.

It surprised her how easy her new life had become. She didn't need to worry about how she acted in front of people, or whether they bitched about her, because they all hated her and did bitch about her. But because it was the 'her' she had created as the perfect bitch, and not her, the real Misty, directly, she didn't care. It was like taking the back seat while someone else drove.

From the chaos of trying to be in control in the lead-up to her exams, the Misty who cared not and everybody hated had taken control, living the way she wanted. The real Misty had obligingly accepted and willingly slipped away, giving the new Misty free reign of her life.

The real Misty, the old Misty, only sometimes regained herself, whenever the new Misty's grip on the reigns loosened, the old Misty would shine through, leading them somewhere else.

LANCE

Lance's guilt rushed over him, making his hand shake as he took the sandwich that Kishi was offering him. 

__

There's no way she could know what I did, he reminded himself.

"*Hey Lance! Man!*" Hitmonchan hollered "*Guess what?*"

"What?" Lance asked, taking a big bite into the soft white bread.

"*I got Ash to ask Wendy if she was gonna release Leela later on, and she said yes! Today is my big day!*"

Lance's brow collapsed into perplexed wrinkles. "You got Ash...to ask? But how...Ash didn't get hit by any Alakazam waves, did he?"

Hitmonchan's mouth dropped. He liked to think that he didn't miss any details, but it seems that he'd just missed a few.

"Ash can't understand and speak Pokemon can he?" Lance continued.

He looked at Kishi. She could, so, well...it wasn't entirely impossible that Ash could. Unlikely...but not impossible. Lance knew from constructing creatures from the DNA up, that nothing was impossible.

"Hey, Kishi..." he asked.

"Mmm?" she said, her mouth chewing vigorously.

"Is Ash a psychic?"

"Ash?" she repeated with a quizzically raised eyebrow "Nup. He is a firm believer in matter over mind."

"Has he ever had any kind of psychic interaction or intervention in his life?" Lance continued.

"Well..." Kishi blushed "I may have read his mind once or twice..."

"*Would that have rendered him capable of speaking to Pokemon?*" Hitmonchan queried in his best detective voice.

"No...it shouldn't anyway. Sabrina might know...I don't really know much about that side of it. It shouldn't anyway...I didn't really go into a Pokemon zone in his brain anyway, though that is the majority of what he thinks about..."

"It's just...Hitmonchan was speaking with him..."

"*Come to think of it...is Brock a psychic?*" Hitmonchan asked.

"No..." Kishi answered, biting her lower lip "Oh Hitmonchan..." she groaned.

"*What?*"

"Ever stopped to think that is was perhaps you would could speak with humans?" Lance asked him, putting a hand regally upon Hitmonchan's shoulder.

"*Huh?*"

"Remember the Mew DNA you spilt back at Parks'?" Lance refreshed with one hand on his forehead.

"*And you joked that my wrist was now a psychic?*"

"Yeah...well perhaps it got into your bloodstream or something..." Lance theorised "Perhaps you're part psychic...how cool is that, a psychic/fighting type Pokemon?"

"*I know I'm cool.*"

"Parks? Mew DNA?" Kishi inquired.

"Old story. History." Lance dismissed "Now we have something new to focus on...training Hitmonchan here to be the world's greatest psychic!"

Hitmonchan cheered.

Lance noticed in the corner of his eye that Kishi had shrunk back, her face and eyes withdrawn. She hung her head, her hair waving gently in the breeze.

A longing to put his arm around her developed, and it was all he could to grit his teeth and wait for it to subside. It was lucky he was strong in character, because the decisions and steps he'd made recently certainly called out for strength.

__

Approximately one hour and twenty-five minutes later the Poketech High students arrived at their designated camping spot.

JESSIBELLE

"And then I heard that Jessi said she'd like, beat him up or whatever," Jessibelle whispered into Gary's ear. 

The whole class were sitting cross legged on the somewhat dry green grass, watching the final moments of the Gyabunga 'We're in a wild place so remember whatever you do...bla bla...and always carry a bla bla bla with you...' speech.

Well some of the class was watching and listening to this speech, the other part of the class was conversing. Jessibelle was in the latter part, in her mind, the better part.

"Something you'd like to share?" Mr. Gyabunga asked her, his beady eyes sparkling with amusement behind his evil wire-rimmed specs.

"Oh...no, it was something I just wanted to tell Gary," she said a little too cheekily. 

Mr. Gyabunga's eyes narrowed in false menace, and he continued on with his tired old warnings. No smoking, no drinking, no drugs...bla bla bla...

"And finally, the basics of life. Hygiene, food and snoozing. There are three camping toilets, all strategically positioned AWAY from the main camp. One for the teachers..." he gestured behind them, his finger hovering in the general direction of a clump of trees. "Wendy has offered to rig up hessian screens around the toilets so nobody gets an eyeful, which certainly is kind,"

A few kids erupted into laughter.

"The girls toilets are over there..." he gestured to their left "The guys are on the right...and Gary, there is a special toilet for people like you over there..." Mr. Gyabunga pointed to a bunch of trees on the over side of the river that ran in an odd swirling pattern through the valley.

Gary leapt from his place gleefully "A special toilet," he murmured "Wow..." and without sensing that the whole class was laughing because it was actually a joke on Mr. Gyabunga's part, Gary ran off to see.

Mr. Gyabunga shook his head sadly. "Well, that aside...there are three showers also...although you'll find that there are no set gender areas, I mean, you guys have all camped together before...I trust there will be no peeking or mad, naked towel flicking? Each shower has a very NON-transparent, non-translucent, absolutely foolproof fabric screen. The water is solar heated. You know all about how to dig the drains and holes for both the dunnies and the showers, because you studied that in your Environmental Studies classes. And you guys can dig those waterworks today,"

There was suddenly a lot of sour faces and booing.

"Hey," Mr. Gyabunga shrugged "Just wait til we have to fill them in."

There was disgust sweeping through the crowd.

"I'm not going to do it," Jessibelle said huffily to Cassidy.

"Same."

"We have volunteers already," Mr. Gyabunga smiled his famous evil smile at them. Jessibelle pouted back.

"Hey, Mr. G, I couldn't find any toilet..." Gary said as he jogged back, his brow wrinkled in confused. "I looked everywhere."

"Sit down, Gary..." Mr. Gyabunga sighed.

Gary did so, still utterly perplexed by this mystery.

"I know you guys are gonna hate this...but...the tents are...four person..." the teacher apologised.

The crowd groaned.

"I know, I know...but if things get too hot at night, NOT in that way, Gary, stop grinning, we have two bivvies that are gonna be put up, a girls bivvy and a boys bivvy. You can sleep there, in the open night air if you want."

"Uh...did you pre-choose the tent groups?" Gabby asked worriedly.

"No. All I can say is that there is gonna have to be one boys group with five members, unless Hitmonchan wants to go in a Pokeball..."

"*He doesn't.*" Hitmonchan said firmly.

"OK, well, anyway, I think you have all noticed this big dead tree I'm standing next to."

Jessibelle noticed it...it was tall and very straight, dead white all over. It sort of looked like an old telephone pole. You could see the axe marks form where it had been ringbarked.

"This Base Tree. You'll always notice it first when you come here. Base Tree is our official meeting place. Got it?"

"Yep."

"Next item...the big, glittering luxurious pool of fresh water that the river flows into to my right, can be used at any time, by any campers, so I hope you all brought swimmers."

"Can we skinny dip?" Gary inquired.

"You work it out Gary." Mr. Gyabunga said sadly.

"I have big muscles," Gary told Mr. Gyabunga, who recoiled in disgust.

"Well...uh, anyway, I have one final rule, that YOU MUST OBEY AT ALL TIMES, NO MATTER WHAT!"

Jessibelle looked a little concerned...Mr. Gyabunga usually joked around, but he sure as hell wasn't joking around when he said that.

"The valley to your left...if you follow that river, is occupied by some people, our new neighbours. You probably won't see them while you're here, but please use respect at all times, and DO NOT GO INTO THAT VALLEY. It is the tort of trespass, and will NOT be tolerated."

"Isn't that just kind of saying, 'please go into the neighbour's valley?'" Gary whispered to Jessibelle. She giggled and nodded.

"OK, I'll give you five to sort out tent groups."

There was a pause, before Jessibelle shrieked and grabbed onto Cassidy's arm. Cassidy gave Snap a parting kiss and grabbed Gabby.

MISTY

Misty sat in what she hoped to be an intimidating manner as far as she could from the goings on, without getting a scolding from Mr. G.

She noticed Jessi doing the same thing.

She also took notice of the groups as they, nervously hoping she'd be thrust into Kishi's group.

Kishi and Jenny were together...but that was all...Joy was kind of hovering around Jessibelle, but suddenly Jessibelle opened her mouth and Joy scurried away. Jenny called her over. So that was three.

Snap, James, Butch and Gary were already sitting in a foursome, although Gary was protesting Snap's involvement.

Tracy, Lance, Ash, Brock and Hitmonchan formed the other group.

That left her and Jessi to placed with either Kishi's group or Gabby's group.

"Is that all?" Mr. Gyabunga asked.

"Jessi and Misty still haven't got in a group." Gary sneered. Under his breath he mouthed "losers".

"Well I'll solve this." Mr. Gyabunga said "Misty, go with Jessibelle and Gabby and who else is that hiding behind Jessibelle? Cassidy.

Jessi, just shuffle over there to Kishi, Jenny and Joy."

Misty's eyes began to sting, she didn't want to go with Belle and Cass, they were bitches and they hated her. Gabby had never been favourably disposed to her either, especially since she'd changed.

__

Hey, the new Misty said suddenly in her head, _We don't want them to like us anyhow, so who cares?_

The old Misty slipped away passively.

JESSI

Jessi narrowed her eyes angrily as she approached Kishi and her group.

"I don't like you," Jessi informed them childishly.

Kishi shrugged. Joy looked worried. Jenny caught the tent bags that Wendy threw their way in her arms.

"I especially don't like you Kishi," Jessi hissed.

"Why?" Kishi asked "Because James chose me over you?"

"Hah! That's a laugh!" Jessi hollered "He hates you know cos you ran off on your first date!"

"He doesn't hate me." Kishi stated.

"Have you and him been on a second date?" Jessi demanded.

"No." Kishi answered "Have you been on a first date?"

Jessi found herself without a comeback for a few seconds, remembering the time she'd tried to hook up with James at McDonalds.

"Yes..." Jessi snapped. It was partly the truth.

"But he stood you up." Kishi added.

"Huh? How did you know?" Jessi squeaked "I mean, no he didn't..."

"Yes he did. After you left for the biker gang, Cassidy spread it around the whole school."

"She did?" Jessi screamed "Agh! I hate her! What vile place is she from?! Hell?"

"Uh...no...wasn't she born on Tangelo Island or something?" Kishi said.

"Yeah, she was." Jessi confirmed "But that isn't the point."

"Um? I hate to break up the party...guys..." Jenny said, forcing herself into the conversation "But we have a tent to set up."

Jessi inspected her nails breezily "Mm, you do have a tent to set up."

"No...'we' includes you," Jenny explained slowly, grabbing Jessi's wrist.

"Hey! Don't touch me!" Jessi protested, waving the affected appendage around wildly.

Joy began to straighten out the tent poles, while Kishi pulled the tent canvas out of its bag, setting it out neatly on the ground.

"Where are the pegs?" Kishi demanded.

"Here," Jenny said, dumping them beside her.

"Uh...girls...your tent needs to be set up further from here. Take it back a little, see that little green bushel? Set it up to the right of that." Mr. Gyabunga instructed. "We're keeping you away from those trees, because the bivvies go under them. Thanks."

Jessi looked around to gauge her relationship of space with the others. Cassidy's group was at the point of a headland-type protrusion near the river. James and his group were set up about ten metres back from the campfire, Ash's group about twenty metres back from them.

The teachers were setting up a spacious tent each towards the centre of the valley.

Jessi groaned. She had to spend four and a half days with the class nerds. Perhaps on the next week she'd have someone better to hang around with.

Yeah.

Right.

GARY

"I'll be gone five minutes, max," Gary said breathlessly, handing Gabby one of his traditional, flashy walkie-talkie handhelds. "I'm on channel...uh...whatever channel it's already set on. Buzz me if the teachers are on the Gary prowl."

Gabby nodded, taking the object he held out to her.

"See ya babe!" he said, giving her a quick, half hug and then dashing off, suitably out of the laser-eyed teachers sight range.

Gary snuck quietly and swiftly through the bushes, heading in the precise direction to the precise location he was directed not to go to.

As he passed by the place where the mouth of the river fed into the big pool, he noticed a log over the river. His playful mind began to recreate every log-crossing scene he'd ever witnessed in every film he'd ever watched.

__

No, he scolded himself, _Bad Gary, you're here for one reason only. Let's not make like a _loser_ and get distracted._

That one reason was to check out who the neighbours were. Maybe they were hot. Mr. Gyabunga sure didn't make them sound like normal humans, they sounded...weird...

Gary sure got a taste of weird as he craned his neck past the tree trunk he was using to hide his body from view.

The neighbours were weird. Gyabunga was right.

Well, OK, he couldn't actually see the neighbours, but what he did see was their home.

It was big, shaped like an octagon, and instead of solid walls there were sheets of black fabric. 

Staked around the dwelling were several wooden poles...

Gary counted.

He grinned.

Sixteen poles.

He ran back to camp.

GABBY

"He should be back now..." Gabby fretted "Should I call him?"

James shrugged "Whatever. He needs to hurry, we have tent inspection next..."

"I wonder what the neighbours are like. I hope they're really cute..." Gabby dreamed, a dull sigh then anchoring her to the reality that she living in. "Yeah right. They're probably sixty year old farmers with saggy-ass pants..."

James laughed. "Oh hey!" he said thankfully "There's Gary over there!"

"Thank bloody god..." Gabby exhaled.

She reached out for James's hand...and he accepted it, blushing. Gabby threw herself forward in a run, almost dragging James behind her.

"So Gary...what was it like?" she demanded, releasing her grip on James.

"Amazing. Best sex I've ever had," Gary answered jokily.

"Oh ha ha," Gabby intoned in a dramatised version of boredom "No seriously, I've been dying slowly for the past five and a half minutes...what's the go?"

Gary used his right hand to flatten down his hair, his left hand across his chest. He lowered his squeaky voice. "Promise not to tell?"

"Solemnly swear, don't we James?" Gabby said quickly, kicking James as a prompt. James obviously didn't want to be there.

"Well..." James began nervously "As long as I don't get into any trouble if you get caught Gary..."

"Gary Oak does not get caught. Remember the time I brought my Rattata to school and took it with me to every class and I still didn't get sprung?" Gary boasted nostalgically.

"Yeah..." James remembered. 

"Well...anyway, it was wwwweeeeeeeird. Octagonal, black house, no people there at all..."

"Mmm?" Gabby spoke, interested.

"And the weirdest part is..." Gary lowered his voice so it was almost inaudible. Gabby had to put her head practically in his mouth to hear him speak.

"The weirdest part is that there were sixteen wooden stakes surrounding their home...sixteen stakes..." he drew in a breath "for sixteen skulls."

Gabby laughed "Lemme guess then? It was an old farmhouse with a geriatric couple who mean no harm?"

"You don't believe me?" Gary reeled.

"What? That they want sixteen skulls...where are they going to find sixteen skulls?" Gabby sniggered 

James's beautiful sea-green eyes widened with fear "There are sixteen of us..."

Gary nodded, his eyes narrowed, but still, there was a glimmer of faint distress hidden in their depths.

For a second the fear hit Gabby too. "Don't be stupid, Gary." She dismissed "They must grow vegetables out here, you know, no shops and all...what you saw were probably those poles people use for beans and stuff..."

Gary looked doubtful. James looked a little relieved. 

"No way, Gabby...I know what I saw."

Gabby bit her lower lip "Mr. Gyabunga is coming."

"Tonight Gabby. After lights out we'll go to sleep under the bivvy, then I'll take you to the place. OK?"

Gabby was the type who instantly responded to a summoning like this. "Sure."

JAMES

James's heart thumped in the deep cavern of his chest as his brain registered Gabby's response to the proposal that Gary had issued. She was going to go out, at night, to the possibly crazy killer that resided in the neighbouring valley.

He didn't want to lose her...

"What's the worst that could happen, eh?" she shrugged "I've got a big tough man like you to protect me Gary."

James's mouth straightened itself into a bleak line. A harsh horizontal mark was obscuring the innocent charm of his face. He knew what he had to do.

"I'll come too..." he said suddenly, surprising Gary and Gabby more than himself.

There was only one way he'd win Gabby's heart...he would be her knight in shining armour, pledging faithfulness until death.

He shuddered. The chances were high that he would die that night.

__

Dinner time. 7:30 pm.

BROCK

It was dinner time, the sun was impressively setting in a blaze of purple and orange, and Brock was offering around his latest creation to the tired students who had painfully laboured all day to set up proper toilet and hygiene facilities.  
"Here you go, Ash. Chilli Rice Balls, what do you think?"

Ash tentatively took one off the mighty platter Brock was wielding. 

"Um..." Ash said "They're good...they're not exactly spicy though...heh...heh...um what did you put in here?"

"There was no chilli," Brock explained "So I used a mixture of strawberry and black pepper. And salt, to taste." He smacked his lips.

"Uh, Brock," Ash said sensitively "Stick to doughnuts man."

Brock was hurt. He liked to think he was the supreme cook, as well as the perfect mother, father and housewife. Losing a domestic test, like the Chill Rice Ball, had left an abnormal bruise.

"Hey, Jenny, sweetie," he said, turning to his girlfriend for support "Whaddaya reckon?"

Jenny plucked a red-specked, off-white sphere from the top of the tower and chewed it slowly...carefully. "Um...Brock...stick to doughnuts, eh?"

"Agh! My best friend and my girlfriend have both rejected my creation." Brock lamented. His outer display was overacted to provoke laughter form Jenny, but inside he really felt that way. He was beginning to see that Jenny was uncomfortable around him. He'd heard her whisper to Kishi that she thought he was smothering her. Brock wasn't sure what he'd done wrong, but it had sort of upset Jenny. Even now Brock was absolutely mystified by the female race as a whole, as long as he lived, they would remain impossible to understand...and gracefully untouchable. 

He wanted to hang onto Jenny as long as he could...she was the girl of his dreams, but he wasn't sure how...was he moving too fast? Too slow? Too often? Not enough? There were so many variables to their relationship, so many trying things he hadn't speculated upon...even their very beginning was something from a vaguely remembered dream.

She was his angel.

TRACY

Tracy swallowed another forkful of Cassidy's macaroni and cheese. The downside to the food was that in order to pass the leaders camp, each leader must be able to cook something.

The upside was that both Brock, Kishi, Gabby and surprisingly Butch were good cooks. He wasn't so bad himself.

Tracy's face tightened. Kishi...so she was a psychic...that explained why she'd suddenly disappear and reappear. Teleportation. 

But the stern, stony-faced warning that Lance had issued him was too, sticking in his mind. Tracy could only find one possible answer for the way that Lance had tried to scare him off. Lance liked her.

Tracy was quite offended by the fact that Lance felt like he needed to warn others off. Tracy wasn't really interested in Kishi...just curious. Tracy had other interests...like the cute, sweet, quiet Joy Ferry, who was crossing the boundaries of friendship between Jenny and Jessibelle.

Tracy also had a slight eye for Cassidy, even though it was clear she was thoroughly wrapped up in Snap, although her main off-putting feature was her lack of coking skills.

Tracy discreetly buried his dinner under the log he was sitting on.

__

Campfire, 9 pm

GARY

Gary leaned over to whisper in Gabby's ear. "Nervous babe?"

"No way." She scoffed. Her fingers dug him in the ribs "Are you?"

"Me? Me with the reflexes and agility of a Persian, the mysterious good looks of a Ninetales? Me with the strength of seven Tauros, me who-"

"You who has the personality and odour of a Grimer..." Gabby interrupted.

"Gee, shucks, Gabby, you're such a flatterer. I might get a big head if you keep on feeding me such grand compliments."

Gabby looked at him doubtfully. "You _might_ get a big head? Gary dear...Do you want a tape measure...you might actually need two...your reading is off the scale."

"So do you think I am a little arrogant?"  
"A little? You're nothing short of an egotist, but I love you for it."

JAMES

So Gabby went for men with healthy egos and brave personalities. James was the first to admit he had a lot of shaping up to do.

ASH

"I wanna hear a scary story..." he declared "Who knows one?"

Fourteen blank teenage faces and one blank Pokemon one looked at him.

"That's a little juvenile." Misty scolded in a high and mighty voice.

"There's nothing wrong with scary stories. They're actually quite cool, Misty," Cassidy condemned "I just don't know any, except from movies."

"I know two..." Gary announced proudly "The first one is called 'The Speed of Irrevocable Fear', the second one," Gary paused to look at Gabby "Is called 'Skulls'. The Skulls tale is a little too chilling for you all though, so lean in to evoke that fear within,"

Ash grinned, enjoying the darkness with orange tongues of flame lighting up the smiling faces of his friends.

"There were two lost teenagers in the wilderness, Connie was only fourteen, Joshua was at sweet sixteen. It was midday, and they had been for a walk down to the brook that lapped innocently between two massive hills.

"But they had somehow taken a wrong turn, winding up many kilometres away from their destination, and with the sun in its highest position, both Joshua and Connie weren't sure where to go.

"Joshua suggested that they should go left...Connie, a sweet youth, could do nothing but agree. So they walked. 

"Their walk lasted only thirty minutes, for they stumbled upon..."

Ash looked around at those surrounding him during Gary's pause. James was anxious, Gabby amused, Snap and Cassidy clutching eachother jokily.

"A hut."

Ash breathed out, most of the kids were laughing. 

"You suck Gary!" Gabby cackled in a friendly manner.

"I haven't got to the best part." Gary defended.

"Well hurry up and do."

"You can't rush brilliance. This is a psychological thriller, its terror niggling your spine all the way.

"A cragged old woman exits the hut, greeting them warmly. The children remark that it is so strange to find someone out in the middle of nowhere, out in the sticks. They also admit that they are lost. That was their biggest mistake.

"The woman smiles slyly, her teeth are now visible as blackened, crumbling fibres, her breath fouler than the stench of death itself. 'I know the way' she grins.

Connie and Joshua thank her heartily, and she leads them off.

"Half an hour later, Joshua utters 'I think we should turn right...'. The old woman disagrees, her greasy, snakelike hair flying as she shakes her head. 'I know a quicker way'.

"For hours they walk, hours on end, no rests. Connie's feet are bleeding and sore, Joshua's knee is aching, but the woman refuses to let them rest 'I know a quicker way' she says, leading them onwards.

"The sun slips away, the sky giving in to darkness, but the woman refuses to allow Joshua and Connie rest. By now Connie's feet are raw, blistered and blood soaked, and Joshua's knee has all but given way. 'I know a quicker way' the woman cackles as she leads them into the night.

"The moon ambles in a straight path across the sky, all the while Connie and Joshua follow the woman. By first light, Joshua is only walking by aid of a stick used a rough crutch, but his underarm has been scratched open by the crude walking device, and the pain in his knee is intense. Connie's feet are rubbed to the flesh, even to the bloodstained white bone in places. Still the woman leads them. 'I know a quicker way'"

Ash shivered. Gary's story was surprisingly good.

Ash waited eagerly for the next part.

"Hurry up, what happens next?" Butch demanded, sounding more like the old impatient Butch than the newer bleak one.

"Huh? Oh, that's all." Gary shrugged.

"What?! That sucks!" Misty exclaimed rudely "It doesn't even have a proper ending!"

"That's the scary part," Gary explained as though Misty was only two years of age "It goes on forever...she's probably still out there...leading them...a faint voice declaring 'I know a quicker way'."

"Try again, Gary," Jessibelle criticised "Tell us about the skulls."

"Well now," Gary said with a sly look at Gabby "That tale is still being written."

BUTCH

Butch had come to a sharp realisation. He was no longer burdening himself with the constantly on guard state of mind that his Gothic alter ego had sprouted, he was reverting to the breezy, uncomplicated manner that had originally made him so popular.

His friends had still stuck by him through the change, and now he wanted to let them know how much that meant to him.

He laughed along with Gary and the others at campfire that night, until the hiss of Wendy had signalled lights out.

The weird thing was...Gary fell straight asleep as soon as the lights were turned ut, instead of talking all night as he usually did.

__

About 12 am...

GABBY

Gabby quietly unzipped the tent and the fly, crawling out into the eerily moonlit night. It was a full moon. She felt oddly exposed, still in her cute Vulpix pattern boxers and pink cami top. Her hair was still wet form her shower.

She turned her attention to the girls' bivvy. There was one shape resting there already. Gabby squinted as she pulled on her pink Sketchers cleats. The hair colour of the girl sleeping there gave two options...Jessibelle, or Jessi.

Gabby snuck over, planting herself cross legged next to the sleeping body, which she then identified as Jessibelle, in her cool metallic pink sleeping bag, who must have left their tent earlier, perhaps to get away from Misty, who had an annoying little high pitched snore.

"Hey Gabby," Gary hissed, jumping out from behind her, a disused torch in one hand. James stood next to him, and he too, had a torch.

"Hi." Gabby said, getting up to go.

"Uh...Gabby? Gary?" Jessibelle moaned, rubbing her eyes, rudely awoken from a summery slumber.

"And James," James said smoothly. Gabby noted with a smile, if there was one thing James loved to do, it was introduce himself.

"Where are you going?" Jessibelle asked, stretching.

"Shopping." Gary answered without thinking.

"Huh? Where?" Jessibelle demanded groggily, sliding her legs out of her sleeping bag.

"No...I'm just kidding, actually...you know the neighbours that we can't visit?" Gary inquired.

"Mm..." Jessibelle muttered, rolling up her sleeping bag.

"Well we're going to er...visit them," Gabby broke in, cutting off whatever false explanation Gary was going to offer.

"Oh cool...do you know them or something?" Jessibelle asked, her voice back to its old chirpy self, her eyes wide and awake.

"No..., they're apparently trying to kill us or something. They're supposedly creepy. I wanted to check them out." Gabby shrugged. "So Gary said, yeah OK, then we'll go at night. Then James said, yeah OK, I'm up for it. So then we went. Wanna come?"

"Sure." Jessibelle shrugged. "Lemme grab my sneakers. I'll be back in a second."

So Gabby, Gary and James waited, James nervously tapping his torch, Gary humming a Rage Against the Machine song. Gabby was just sitting down again.

"Scared, anyone?" Gary asked casually.

"Scared? Hah!" James squeaked lamely "That's a good one."

"I'm not. I don't even believe Gary." Gabby teased.

"Why not? I'm ever so trustworthy." He informed forcefully, stretching "Hurry up Belle."

In a matter of twenty-four seconds Belle was back, ready for Gary's little 'adventure'.

"OK, I'll lead you all on the way." Gary said boldly, and he led the three anxious and disbelieving teens into the stillness of the night.

5 MINUTES LATER

"Holy shit!" Gabby whispered hoarsely. 

Gary clamped a shivering hand over her mouth. "Shh." He warned, gesturing at the spectacle before them "Do you want them to catch us?!"

"So you weren't lying..." Gabby hissed.

She turned to look at James, he had his eyes closed, and he was terrified.

The entire moonlit scene transfixed Jessibelle; her sapphire eyes lit up with suppressed excitement.

There were possibly twelve black robe clad adults all striding purposefully, arms raised menacingly, around an object on a wooden pedestal. Gabby couldn't see what the object was exactly...it looked like a copper bowl.

The robed figures were about forty metres away from where Gabby and her friends sheltered behind a grassy embankment.

"There are the poles..." Gary said in a barely audible whisper.

Gabby jumped as she felt James grab her hand. She turned around to face him, he was gazing so admiringly at her that she couldn't help but blush.

"This so cool!" Jessibelle breathed, awestruck. "Satanic rituals performed by an isolated cult!"

"Cool? It's fucking creepy!" Gary exploded, his voice cracking a little to loudly. Gabby froze.

So did the black figures.

"Eh?" one hollered.

James's grip on Gabby's hand tightened until it felt like her hand was just a piece of squashed meat.

"Eh?" he yelled again, for it was presumably a he, judging by the deepness of his voice.

"Fuck hiding!" Gary wailed "RUN!"

Gabby's heart beat double time as James pulled her to her feet. "Ah shit!" she yelled.

The only sound in her ears as she sprinted away was the pounding of her heart... she couldn't even tell if that was what it truly was, or whether it was the sound of footsteps after them in the darkness.

She didn't dare look back, perhaps it was Gary's stories, but she was totally freaked out. There was no way she was ever going to go back in that valley.

JAMES

James had tears in his eyes, his hand was still grasping Gabby's even as they fled. He was shitting himself, he'd never been so afraid in his life. 

_'I know a quicker way' _Gary's words proclaimed in his mind...he shuddered and forced himself to run even faster.

JESSIBELLE  
Jessibelle knew at that moment in her life exactly how she felt. The perverse adrenaline rush was making her legs a blur, but her mind was clear. She was the only one of the four who looked back.

The robed shapes were all standing in a row, watching them flee. There was a contentedness in the eyes of the closest one that chilled her insides.

The fear, it was safe to say, turned her on, pretty much. It was such a high for her. 

Her eyes narrowed.

She had to go back.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Agh! I suck at scariness, don't I? HUH? You holler, IT WAS SUPOSED TO BE SCARY?! Um...well...poor Jessibelle...is all I can say...because things get bad for her. Butch too. For everyone.

In the next episode Ash finally convinces Kishi to read Misty's mind. What she's thinking might shock you! 

OK, so I'll see you all then, then? 

Dreams belong to everyone

So follow them,

Even if you've never glimpsed the sun

Love and Kisses,

Tenshi_Mew2

  



	3. Default Chapter Title

****

PoKeTeCh CaMp 3

ASH

Ash carefully hid the rest of his porridge under a stone. James wasn't the best cook in the world.

He glanced beside him and saw Kishi doing the same thing.

"Hey, Kishi?" he asked, his voice deepening with concern "I'm worried about Misty...she's been acting so weird lately...I was wondering if maybe you would read her mind...just to see...how she is..."

The last thing Ash expected was for Kishi to agree with him. "Yeah," she sighed "I'm worried too, I know it's wrong, but I think it is about time we did something to try and understand what she is going through. We're her closest friends."

Ash bit his lip. "When?"

"Now?" Kishi suggested bleakly.

"Um...OK...we'll just go...somewhere, though, 'cos everyone is still eating breakfast here," Ash mumbled "We'll go down the Lagoon,"

Kishi and Ash straightened up and left, dropping their bowls in the dishes bucket for later cleaning.

GABBY

"Shit! Gary that was fucking freaky..." Gabby hissed at him, spooning her remaining porridge onto the grass.

James's cooking was obviously not a success with the people.

"Fuck yeah," he agreed heartily 

"What if they complain to Gyabunga or something?" she fretted.

Gary raised an eyebrow comically "What if they come after us...while we sleep...the only sound that alerts us of their presence will be a slow..." Gary paused to enter a state of laborious, ragged breathing. "The faint **insert heavy breathing here** will be the last thing you hear...then it is **cutting motion with hand** all over,"

Gabby shivered. "Shut up Gary."

"How's Belle?" Gary asked.

"Distant." Gabby replied "She really got excited...perhaps too excited..."

"Aroused?"

"Possibly." Gabby thought for a moment "And how's James?"

Gray made a gagging face "Obviously from the state of this porridge, he isn't too good. He was shitting himself, not literally, last night...he's now one disturbed kid."

"How's sharing a tent with Misty?" Gary asked, "Has she slit anybody's throat yet?"

"It's not too bad, she has a funny snore. She doesn't talk to us. She kinda keeps to herself. It's better than sharing with Joy though. She's all over Belle like a rash."

"Kinky lesbian sex and arousal by cults?" Gary mused, stroking his chin "Hmm...she is an 'interesting' one all right..."

"You want her?" Gabby inquired.

"Maybe. Is she over Butch?"

"Hope so. By the way, how is Butch?"

Gary grinned and pointed "Check him out!"

Butch was wearing baggy cargo shorts and a navy blue muscle shirt, and Cassidy, Jessibelle, Snap and James were crowding around him.

Gabby smiled. "He's back to normal? See ya, Gary, I want to talk to him, okay? Bye!"

ASH

Ash watched with interest as Kishi's eyes flew open, revealing themselves as narrowed globes of blue light.

Beads of sweat were forming on her forehead...and there was a slight humming sound.

Ash bit his lip and held his breath.

Kishi was sitting cross-legged on the ground, her hands palm-down upon the blades of grass. Ash noted that her arms were shaking mildly. All her muscles were taught, she looked under enormous strain.

Then she relaxed.

She blinked a few times, her eyes fading back to their normal swirling, mass of colours.

"What happened...?" Ash demanded, but in a slow, breathless voice.

Kishi's eyes watered. "Ash...we have to do something. I'm sick of this inaction...now that I know..."

"Know what?" Ash breathed.

Kishi met his eyes slowly "She's mad Ash. She's crazy...insane...disturbed, whatever..."

Ash's eyes too, brimmed with tears. "What?!"  
"She refers to herself as the Old Misty...you know, the one...that you...um...well to be blunt, fell in love with,"

Ash blushed, but said nothing.

"And also as the New Misty, the bitchy one. She is letting the 'New Misty' control everything she does...but she switches sometimes..."

"Schizophrenia," Ash stated.

"No...Schizophrenia is actually a different condition, it's been proven. It's called Disassociative Identity Disorder. I'm doing Psychology...we covered that a while ago. She must have had some trauma in the past where some aspect of her personality has split off...like rape or abuse...or..." she looked directly at him "severe emotional trauma. There are usually two or more distinct personality states that control behaviour," Kishi informed him sadly.

"We don't cover anything like that in Pokemon Studies," Ash said wistfully "Incidentally, did you know that Paras burrow underground to eat tree roots?"

Kishi glared at Ash.

He cowered. "Is there any way to stop it...?"  
Kishi thought back. "Self help...you know, meditation, hypnosis and things like that."

"Sounds like it is right up your alley then." Ash said sadly.

Kishi went quiet.

SNAP  
Snap didn't really consider Butch as a friend. He was happy that Butch had finally 'seen the light', as he had put it, and had found himself again. He said he'd had an identity crisis. The funny thing was, Snap was sure Butch had no idea what he was saying.

The worrying thing was the way Cassidy was punching him playfully and smiling, joking around. He knew that Cass and Butch had been inseparable best friends.

Snap knew he had no right to be jealous.

But it wasn't stopping him.

JESSI

"KIDS! CIRCLE TIME! GET TO THE TREE!" Wendy screamed. Hollered. Bellowed. It was frightening that a woman who appeared as ladylike and small as Wendy Lawson could scream that loudly.

Jessi merely lifted herself up off the fallen log she was sitting on and onto another one only a metre away. 

She was now only sitting six metres away from Wendy. She didn't honestly want to get too close.

"Now firstly, we are all going to go on a half day lunch hike, then we will split into tent groups and take short hikes from our lunch area, finishing about six o'clock. Then we will return for dinner at seven, an hour or so of free time, and then a game of Spotlight."

Explosive cheers sounded, Jessi's voice just one in a large chorus. Jessi was the undisputed year 7, 8 and 9 camp Spotlight Champion. Not only was she able to contort her body to fit neatly in odd shaped cavities and tree hollows, but she could run like the wind back to base. And when she was in charge of the torch, her lightning quick senses lead her to getting everybody out. 

Jessi was surprised however, that Jessibelle looked so delighted at the prospect of a childish game, something that she always hated.

Beside her James, who had never quite been 'athletically inclined' was looking increasingly more nervous. He and Jessi had used to have an unspoken agreement not to catch each other out, which Jessi frequently violated, but James had never ever broken.

"That's all," Wendy shrugged "OK, time to allocate food."

SNAP

There was about half an hour until lunchtime, and he and Cassidy were meandering along, holding hands. They were in about the middle of a sparsely lined group on a relatively bland track, surrounded by open valleys and fierce hills. 

It was nothing compared to the Year 9 Tari Karingu hike.

Snap had a question on his mind. "Cass..."

"Mm?"

"Are you a virgin?"  
Cassidy's eyes fell silent, and for the first time, she looked away from him. "What does it matter?" she mumbled.

"I just want to know," Snap persisted "You haven't told me much about yourself...and I just want to know...if you are ready."

Cassidy shrugged. "I'm 16, I'm a B student...you know all there is to know."

"Except well..._that_..." Snap whispered.

"Look, it doesn't matter."

"Are you, or aren't you?" 

Cassidy drew away from him, removing her hand from his. "I have to go."

"Cass!" Snap called after her, but she stormed on ahead.

ASH

Ash and Kishi rose up behind Misty, they were close to the front of the hiking procession.

"Misty?" Kishi asked softly.

Misty waited a moment or two, and then she turned towards them, stopping. "What the hell do you want?"

"The old Misty back for just a moment," Ash spluttered, blushing.

"What the fuck?!" Misty laughed.

Kishi took Misty's hands in her own. "Misty...Ash and I are really worried about you..."

"Fuck off!" Misty scoffed, pulling away.

"You are suffering from a mental disorder." Kishi stated simply, tears rushing down her face.

Misty gasped, raising a hand to her reddened cheek. Her eyes widened with a painful realisation. "Shut up, you wankers have no idea what you are on about," she hissed.

"Misty, you need help." Ash pleaded with her "Please come back."

Misty lowered her head and dropped suddenly to her knees, her fingers intertwining with the lush grass beneath her. "Oh shit..." she whispered hoarsely.

Misty's body heaved several times before her head lurched forward and she threw up.

"Misty!" Ash and Kishi gaped in unison, rushing to either side of her.

"Ash?" Misty mumbled, her fingers fumbling at his face.

He hurriedly took her hand. "Yes?"

"I lo-...I'm...sorry..."

Ash shivered, wondering what she had been going to say before she had cut herself off. "That's...OK...I am the one that is sorry, though..." Ash uttered, confused.

"I gotta go..." Misty wailed, rising to her feet and half-running, half-jogging away.

"Shit," Kishi cursed, looking at the fading mass of vomit upon the ground. 

Ash didn't understand why Kishi was so upset; Misty was back to normal, she was just confused...wouldn't anyone be after such an ordeal?

GABBY

"Ah shit Gary, look at Belle," Gabby lamented "Three guesses what she is planning to do tonight."

"I'll guess," Gary spoke playfully "Firstly me."

"Gary, be serious," Gabby scolded "She is getting so high on this cult thing. I'm worried."

"Me too...should I ask her out?"

"I thought that you wanted Cassidy." Gabby said forcefully.

"Bah, I changed my mind. She's taken." Gary shrugged.

"What happened to this 'she is the one and only love of my life' crap you were dealing then?" Gabby demanded, exasperated.

"I'm over it." He replied simply. "I'll ask her tomorrow..." he yawned "I'm too lazy to catch up to her. She is too far ahead."

Gabby wondered why Gary suffered from a completely unromantic lack of commitment, and what it was exactly that made him so endearing. 

"James likes you." Gary informed her.

"No really?" Gabby intoned sarcastically "You're quick."

"He wants to ask you out, but he is too shy," Gary explained.

Gabby sighed. "I really don't want to get involved with him, he is too refined and all; he's no fun."

"Not like me."

"You can think that."

"I do."

Gabby laughed lightly, ruffling her friend's spiky brown hair.

"Would you go out with him if he asked you?" Gary inquired.

"No." Gabby snapped instantly.

"He'll get hurt then," Gary shrugged.

"Why...?" Gabby groaned "Gary what you have done?"

"I sort of told him that you liked him and that you would say yes if he asked you out...and that the best time was lunchtime today."

"Oh fuck!" Gabby moaned "Why the hell did you say that?!"

"I did it for you, Gabs, you haven't been on a date in about a two months, it is unhealthy."

"I went out with Sean and Beau from the public high school last week and the week before!" Gabby exclaimed.

"But they aren't like James," Gary teased "Come on, you know you want to."  
"I _don't_ want to," Gabby insisted, hitting Gary lightly over the shoulder.

Gary grinned "That's what I'm here for,"

"Jerk," Gabby sneered half-heartedly.

"Yep." Gary nodded happily.

SNAP

After lunch, Snap and Cassidy went for a little walk by themselves before they would have to split back into their tent groups.

"So...why won't you just tell me?" Snap asked, stopping in front of a small group of bushes. He turned to face Cassidy.

"Why won't you just get over it?" Cassidy demanded, taking a step closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Because you are my girlfriend and I want to know." Snap informed her.

"Uh-huh, sure," Cassidy smiled, kissing him slowly, forcing him backwards.

Snap stumbled, and laughing, he fell over into the bushes.

And then he screamed.

"OH MY GOD! WHAT THE FUCK IS _THAT?!"_

JAMES

James, Gabby, Butch, Gary and Jessibelle came running as soon as they heard the scream. They closed in on it, James's heart pounding.

As his fearful vision cleared he could make out Cassidy standing back from Snap, her hand clutching at her throat, and Snap himself, panting raggedly, his shirt lying discarded upon the ground. Flies and an awful smell added to the James's confusion.

"Ow, _ew_ man, that is _gross_," Gary sniffed, appalled. He pointed a twig into the bushes.

James promised himself that he wouldn't look until everybody else had.

Snap retched.

"Oh that is seriously festy." Gabby agreed, putting a hand on Gary's shoulder.

Butch looked both disgusted and impressed. "That is pretty cool."

"It's awesome," Jessibelle breathed, holding her nose and having a closer look.

James then promised himself that he wouldn't look at all.

"It scared the fucking shit out of me!" Snap moaned "Agh...it is all over my fucking shirt...I'll never get it clean."

"The only thing that frightened me was your scream," Cassidy uttered "This isn't really shocking or out of place, is it? I mean come _on_."

Curiosity overcame apprehension, and James peered into the space between the broken branches and dried leaves.

"Oh shit..." he gasped. It was a body.

The body of a Tauros, however, but still a body, brutally slashed open. Off-red and brown entrails surrounding it. And flies. And an almost three-dimensional odour.

Repulse joined blood in the flow through James's veins and he ran off to throw up.

GARY

It was about twenty minutes after Snap's 'discovery', a mutilated Tauros corpse in the bushes, and the tent groups were assembled and hiking back to Base Camp.

"What killed it?" James whispered, looking over his shoulder at Snap, currently clothed in one of Butch's baggy USA T-shirts.

Gary shrugged, slightly put off by James's childlike fear "I dunno. Persian, Arcanine..."

"It was killed recently..." James thought back, shuddering "It was so fresh..."

"Things _that_ rancid are rarely fresh man," Gary said, shaking his head. 

"Why wasn't it eaten?" James brooded.

"I guess a Persian got it, they don't eat their catch if they don't want it. So trust me on this man, I do know my Pokemon."

"But...it would have to be a big Persian to bring down a Tauros," James argued softly.

"So _what_ do you want to hear James? I have offered you the response that you want, it was a harmless Pokemon killing, I have also said it was old age and disease. _What do you want?_" Gary demanded, seriously pissed off.

"What you think happened," James whimpered.

"In truth? It was the fucking cult dudes that we saw last night." Gary exploded, then he realised that he had been a bit too loud and he shut his mouth. "Happy?" he hissed.

James hung his head "Shit, Gary, aren't you scared at all?"

"Not fucking well likely," Gary snapped "I'm just _sick of hearing_ about it _all the time_ OK? Gabby and Belle never fucking shut up about it!"

"Take a pill man," James shivered "I'm going to talk to someone who can take my mind off of this..."

"You do it," Gary sneered. _Stupid loser,_ his mind called out after James.

"Hey Butch!" James said loudly "Tell me about the time that you and Belle-"

Gary shut his ears off. He seriously did not want to hear about anyone else cavorting with Jessibelle. It was bad enough that she only paid attention to him to scatter her half-brained cult theories, but the thought of her with Butch...it made him...in no other terms, _angry._

JENNY

"Do you think that it is right for Misty to treat Ash so badly?" Jenny demanded to the tired Kishi.

"Shut up Jenny!" Jessi exclaimed, slapping a hand onto her forehead "Nobody cares!"

"Exactly!" Joy agreed "Just shut up about Ash!"

"Mind your own business anyway!" Kishi jeered, finally snapping into the nastiness that had befallen the others. "You don't know either Ash or Misty so keep yourself out of it!"

Jenny crossed her arms with a bitter look. "What is the matter with you three? What happened to 'getting along'?"  
Jessi, Joy and Kishi quickened their pace, desperate to escape.

"Agh..." Jenny groaned "Stuff you."

"Stop acting like you are so tough!" Jessi yelled, "You have no idea what the world is like!"

"Bimbo!" Jenny hollered after her.

GARY

"OK, man, here is the deal, I'll ask Belle out, you ask Gabby out," Gary nodded to James.

It was about quarter to seven, just before dinner, chicken burritos curtesy of Lance and Hitmonchan, and under the slowly darkening sky Gary was ready to pop the big question.

"Um...OK...I'll go and talk to her then..." James spoke softly.

"Sure, cool. HEY BELLE! COME HERE!" Gary yelled.

Jessibelle slowly turned away from her conversation with Gabby and reluctantly made her way over to him.

"Yes?" she yawned.

"I really like you, you know." Gary began with typical confidence; he had initiated the proposal many times before.

"Of course I know that." Jessibelle grinned "But just as friends, right?" Something about the flirtatious glimmer in her eyes compelled Gary to move closer.

"Oh no you don't...you see...Belle, I really like you." Gary grinned, brushing a stray hair from her face.

Jessibelle titled her head quizzically "Oh yeah?"

Gary got down on one knee in an oh-so-Gary comical gesture "I hope you say that, when I ask you, will you go out with me?"

Jessibelle paused reflectively.

"Don't you dare say that you will think about it." Gary warned, worry edging his voice.

"In that case..." Jessibelle whispered "I don't know...um...OK, well yes."

"Seriously yes?" grinned Gary "You ain't messin' with me?"

Jessibelle smiled sweetly. "Nup."

"Then come 'ere and give us a little kiss,"

JAMES

"Will you go out with me?" James asked, cutting the crap and getting straight to the point.

In front of him, Gabby blushed and hung her head. "You know that I don't feel that way about you James,"

"Couldn't you just try then?" James whined pathetically, his shoulders slumping.

"James I don't want to try and pretend with you," Gabby sighed "Every time that I feel our friendship strengthen, you always...do...this..."

James crumbled.

"No! Don't get me wrong," Gabby added hastily "I just don't want to spoil what we have...left..."

"Yeah..." James mumbled in a weak form of agreement.

"I'm sorry," Gabby apologised with a sympathetic smile.

"Me too." James murmured, watching her walk away from him.

MISTY

Misty lay on her back in the semi-darkness that her tent imposed upon her, breathing slowly and deeply, trying to comes to terms with an overwhelming does of reality.

It was like waking up as herself again, seeing her face in the mirror for the first time in years. It unnerved and unarmed her in a way that was previously unparalleled.

She was Misty and no one else. When she got depressed she was not a new person, but the same person she had always been...Misty...

And it wasn't her that changed, nor was it anybody else.

Their opinions of her had altered after she had tried to commit suicide, and her relations to them had in turn, altered. One sudden change after another, Misty had no other way to cope except to become someone else, harmless at first, but over time it had deformed her.

Eventually, every time that Misty felt out of control or depressed, there was someone else inside her who rose to the surface.

And now, Misty was mind-numbingly alone.

A few moments later, a nervous "Misty?" was intoned.

"Yes..." she murmured; only after replying realising who it was that was asking her.

Ash unzipped the tent flap and crawled inside. "How are you?" he asked her softly.

"Better...I suppose..." she whispered.

Ash lay down beside her. "I...know that you think I am stupid Misty...but I really missed you...I still do..."

Misty smiled and rolled over so that she faced him. "Me too."

Ash gently placed his head in the gap between Misty's chest and head. Misty laid her head next to his, a chaste gesture of a sorely missed friendship.

And then they lay there, each remembering everything that they had lived through together, and apart. 

JESSI

It was about eight o'clock at night, and the much awaited but undeniably immature game of Spotlight was beginning.

"OK I am It. I get the torch, the tree is base, and I am going to kick your sorry butts to hell." Jessi announced in true simplicity, striking an arrogant pose.

"She's obviously never tried to hunt us out before, has she Hitmonchan?" Lance grinned.

"Yeah and a message to Kishi the Human Freak," Jessi sneered "No teleporting or materialising or whatever you happen to do."

Kishi frowned.

"I'm giving you to the count of forty." Jessi warned, turning her back.

JESSIBELLE

The landscape of grey tones raced up to meet her, and then was left in a blur behind her as she ran. The almost alien hillsides were devoid of colour; the grasses pale grey, the trees and shrubs dark grey splodges against a black, clouded sky.

"Where are you going?" Gary hissed, dashing behind her.

"Nowhere!" she breathed in annoyance...running further ahead.

"I know that you are going back to check out the cult dudes," 

Jessibelle urged her legs to run faster, and in response the top of the hut loomed nearer. 

She jumped as Gary grabbed her hand. "Be careful babe," he whispered.

Jessibelle wrinkled her nose "I don't need to, I am Jessibelle, and I am always careful."

"Yeah...uh-huh..." said Gary, his high-pitched voice disbelieving.

Jessibelle jerked forward into a duck, throwing her body to the ground.

Gary collapsed beside her, his ribs rising and falling against her side. It was a touchingly intimate feeling, that Belle was momentarily speechless.

And then she remembered...she craned her neck to see what was happening. The same black-robed figures spiraled erratically around an object of identity undetermined. She squinted her blue eyes, focusing, and she counted twelve.

"How many are there?" Gary hissed.

"Twelve," Jessibelle hissed back.

Gary yawned, unable to hold it back. Jessibelle's eyes flashed furiously at him.

The figures stopped their unnatural gyrations and glared piercingly into the darkness. Jessibelle's spine tingled, and she knew that they could see her.

Uncontrollably, she rose to her feet. Gary refused to let go of her hand, and he unsuccessfully tried to pull her back down, a futile gesture, she was in the open and in full view.

The figures drew closer, almost hovering above the grass with their eerily fluid movements.

Transfixed into paralysis, Jessibelle refused to budge. Her eyes roved the closest figure, trying to locate a face in the folds of its hood.

Now they were less than ten metres from her, and instinct kicked back in. She dragged Gary to his feet and fled.

There was an indistinct holler behind her, possibly from a man, but subject to confirmation.

Heart pounding in her ears and her lungs heaving, something felt wrong as she powered herself back towards camp. There was no adrenaline rush greeting her, but an all over numbness, as though she was simply watching the world on a TV screen and was unable to physically play a part in it.

She was no longer conscious of Gary beside her, or of herself, but only of the figures that were all around her, pacing incessantly, waiting and bleeding.

Night forgot her, her reality shattering and succumbing to a blurred, faint state of forced awareness.

To Be Continued...

Ah...a Slipknot homage (waiting and bleeding, 'await and bleed', see?), some dodgy dialogue and romantic cliches, is there any more to life?

Ash and Misty fans...thank your stars I was feeling mellow as I wrote this, Cassidy and Snap fans (if there are any!) beware...and Jessibelle fans...you REALLY need to beware!

Nobody likes Jenny, Jessi's as pushy as ever, James is depressed, Gabby is a little shocked...what else can I muse on? Um...

Shihad, Muse, Rumanastone and Placebo are the four best bands in the world.

Dreams are the single consolation in your life,

So feel free to express yourself and your dreams

Because for us there is little else.

Love from,

Tenshi_Mew2

****


	4. Default Chapter Title

****

Poketech Camp 4

****

DISCLAIMER- Hmm, let me think about it for a seocnd, oh yeah, I do not own Pokemon, or its affiliated characters. However I do have rights to Kishi and Gabby, and Mr. Emerid has Lance (also his Hitmonchan).

Today's theme song is an oldie but a goodie, _'Heaven's Coming Down'_ by the Tea Party.

A quick note of thank-you too, just to everybody who has ever bothered to read something that I have written. Especially any Tracy fans. I love you guys and your reviews have been so wonderful, and I am really glad that you guys exist...I'm going all soft in the head again, it comes from listening to too much pop music (agh kill me, why does our bus have to play pop music and why did I forget to bring my discman?! Give me Muse any day!)

GABBY

Gabby took a careful bite of the fried bacon on her fork, grimacing slightly as a drip of fat plopped back onto her bowl. "So, Gary, what is going on with Belle?"

Gary shrugged, rubbing his left eye and yawning. "Whatever."

"She is so weird, she was whispering her sleep and she was shivering ever since she got back from Spotlight last night." Gabby stated, "You two went back, didn't you?"

Gary remained silent. "I cook a good bacon and eggs, don't I?"

"Gary, _listen to me_. I am seriously worried. What the _hell_ is happening? I feel as if I am losing control..." she griped "This whole cult thing is out of my grasp. You went back, _didn't you_?"

"So what? Belle wanted to," Gary pouted "She obviously isn't getting hurt by it, so when she gets sick of it, she'll stop."

Gabby groaned, lowering her head. "Gary, I don't think that she can stop."

****

KISHI

"Kishi, have you detected...any...uh..._evil energy_?" Gabby spluttered as soon as breakfast was over.

Kishi gave her cousin a confused look. "Evil energy? Gabby I am shocked. I used to wonder why I couldn't pick up good and evil energy when I was a kid. Then I realised that there is no good and bad, but shades of grey."

"Well...um...could you read the minds of our neighbours or something?"

"What is this? Kishi's free psychic reading week?" Kishi lamented "No way, Gabby, why should I? Do you want to see if they are cute or something?"

Gabby gave her cousin a dangerous glare. "Give me some credit Kishi. I'm not as dumb as that, so fuck off. Forget I asked."

Kishi cast a sad look at her departing cousin, debating whether or not to read her thoughts, wondering what the hell her cousin was on about, and why on earth she was so tense.

"Kishi?" Misty said beside her.

"Yeah," Kishi answered half-heartedly, turning to face her.

"You know how today we are doing the overnight hike?" 

"Yeah..."

"And we have to be in tent groups..."

"Oh."

"I want to see if I can switch groups with Jessi so I don't have to be with the sluts." Misty said.

"They're not sluts," Kishi snapped, instantly defending her cousin "And yeah, I guess you could talk to Jessi about it."

Misty blushed. "I'm _scared_ of Jessi though..."

"OK..." Kishi shrugged "I'll come."

****

ASH

"So Ash, did you kiss her?" Brock demanded.

Ash blushed "No..."

"But you snuck off to a tent with her!" Brock yelled, exasperated, "So don't you tall me that nothing happened."

Ash fumbled to grasp the small piece of self-assertion that he had "Even if I did, Brock, what has it got to with you? All guys brag about how far they have gone but do they ever stop to think about how it affects the girl? I would never, ever do that to Misty, she is my best friend."

Brock stood there for a moment, stunned. "_OK..._"

"_CIRCLE TIME_!" Wendy squawked "Get to the tree!"

Ash shook off the momentary deafness and took his place around the tree.

"OK, today we have a _big_ hike, so pack up the tents, organise who is carrying food, take a shower and visit the dunny, all of that. You have an hour to completely pack up your stuff. That does _NOT_ include the showers and the toilets, we are leaving them here for when we return tomorrow."

"What day is it?" Butch yelled.

"Wednesday," Mr. Gyabunga stated, mildly amused.

"Now, we are going to hike until about six o'clock as one big happy family, and then split up to the four different camping areas, which we will point out to you." Wendy shouted. "Now _GET TO IT_!"

****

JESSI

Jessi leant against the tree, watching everybody unpack and being thankful that she wasn't. She pricked her ears to the sound of Snap's voice. "Cassidy, we need to talk."

Jessi grinned and positioned herself in a place where she could not be seen, but could hear every word.

Cassidy and Snap were on the other side of her tree, partially hidden by a thick blackberry bush. "What is it Snap?" Cassidy sighed.

"I just wanted to thank you for admitting to me that you are a virgin," Snap smiled.

Jessi reeled back. Cassidy? Virgin? The words were chalk and cheese.

"Thanks Snap, but I really have to go help unpack."

Cassidy stormed off, and it seemed that Snap was staying behind, in a thoughtful pause. Jessi made her move, scrambling to her feet, brushing off her shorts and hissing Snap's name.

"Yeah? What?" Snap asked, a little taken aback by Jessi's sudden presence.

"I couldn't help but overhear yours and Cassidy's little discussion," Jessi said slyly, wishing that her knees weren't so red from forcing her body to contort itself enough to hide under a blackberry bush.

"Oh..." Snap blushed "Oops..."

"I just want you to know that your girlfriend is lying to you. She lost her virginity at thirteen to Tom from the public high," Jessi informed him with an underlying sense of darkness "And since then has screwed Butch, Joey from the public high, Mick from a Celadon Nightclub, Tim who she met at Gary's fifteenth, Brad from Valencia Island and probably a thousand more."

"How do you know this?" Snap gasped.

"I _was_ her best friend after all," Jessi said without a trace of bitterness or nostalgia.

"No way," Snap whispered hoarsely "No way would she lie to me."

"I know how to prove it." Jessi scoffed, grabbing Snap by the arm and dragging him over to Kishi.

"Ah, Jessi I need to ask-" Kishi began, but was silenced by Jessi's raised fist.

"Can you read Cassidy's mind to prove to Snap that she isn't a virgin?" Jessi asked. Commanded more like it.

"_AGH_!" Kishi hollered, than blushed when she realised how much attention she had just brought upon herself. "_What the hell? Why not!_ Yes, Cassidy has screwed at least seven guys." Kishi shrugged "And why the _fuck_ am I everybody's favourite person now that they want a favour?"

Jessi ignored Kishi's tirade. "See? Snap, I _told_ you so."

Snap gasped and dashed off.

Jessi grinned at Kishi "I love messing up other peoples lives."

Kishi snarled "Well you can live with it now Jess, because as of now you are not in our tent group, but none other than Cassidy's."

Kishi was not supposed to speak that to Jessi.

Nobody spoke that way to Jessi.

"Fuck off you little whore wannabe!" Jessi exclaimed, raising a fist "You are treating me like shit!"

"Why the hell do people always say that I treat them like shit?" Kishi wailed "For God's sake, there is nobody so special that they deserve to be treated any better than anyone else!"

"Well raise the standards of the way that you treat people now, and perhaps you might even get some friends one day! The only reason people talk to you is because they want you to read somebody's mind!" Jessi screamed, shoving Kishi back.

Kishi gasped and her legs collapsed underneath her.

Snap reached out a pathetic hand, letting it hover above Kishi, but then he drew it in, holding it close to his body. "She lied to me...she said she was a virgin..."

"What does it matter anyhow?" Jessi shrugged, crossing her arms.

"I don't want to be lied to," Snap murmured, blushing.

"Well then, don't be a wimp, and tell her how you feel," Jessi nodded, brimming over with false sunshine, knowing exactly how much Cassidy hated people saying that she was a liar.

****

KISHI

Kishi pushed herself to her feet, knowing everything that Jessi had just said was true.

She wiped a tear from her eye, and avoiding Jessi's glare and Snap's pity, she walked off.

__

I never thought that I would be the one to fall, Kishi thought, _I thought that it would be Snap...or somebody like Misty, or Joy...the kind of people who fall prey to others, just for being far too innocent. I never thought that I would be the one that everybody hated._

Kishi stopped walking when she reached Jessibelle.

"Um, hi, Jessibelle, Jessi wants to swap with Misty, so can she be in your tent group?"

Jessibelle looked at Kishi, her eyes large and staring, the pupils overwhelmingly sized and black. "Whatever," she said quietly.

Kishi looked confused, and then worried. "Yeah...thanks for that, Jessibelle," she said nicely, excusing herself.

Kishi was only around Jessibelle a short period of time, but that was enough to know when something was wrong, but only by a small margin. Kishi put Jessibelle's strangely passive mood down to the after effects of whatever drug Jessibelle was currently taking.

There wasn't much else it could be, was there?

__

About twenty minutes later the Poketech High students began their day hike, heading past the pool, and towards the mountains on the other side of the river.

SNAP

A thousand thoughts crashed into Snap's mind as he approached Cassidy, his pack weighed down by food and parts of the tent.

He tried to push the thoughts aside, and to speak with a clear head.

"You're not a virgin," he stated.

Cassidy said nothing, slowly looking over the opposite shoulder.

"Why wouldn't you tell me?"  
Cassidy paused, wiping her fringe out of her eyes, and then she sighed.

"Just be honest," Snap urged.

"You want the truth?" Cassidy sighed again "Because you are the sort of frigid who would be intimidated or stressed out over their girlfriend not being a virgin. I was just saving you stress." Cassidy shrugged.

Snap's eyes widened, and his brow fell.

"You wanted the truth," Cassidy said slowly "And you got it."

"Is that the way you think of me? I thought we were in an equal relationship!" Snap said at last.

"It was barely a relationship," Cassidy said slowly "I'm sorry Snap, but I have seen rocks that move faster than you,"

"Is that all a relationship is for you? Sex?" Snap cried out, his eyes moist with fresh tears "You are a sex maniac..." his voice trailed off "What do you mean _'was_ barely a relationship'?" Was?"

"'Was' is the past tense of 'is'." Cassidy supplied.

"Well if it is over, let me say this Cassidy, blame yourself, cos you are dumped."

Cassidy shivered. "Fine then Snap. Get with Joy then, she is about as shy as you are. Except she is actually willing to have sex before marriage. Welcome to 2000, Snappy-boy."

"Fuck off Cassidy," Snap whispered, halting his steps.

"I probably won't," Cassidy snapped lightly, speeding up.

And so, after many months, it was over.

****

JENNY

As Jenny struggled under the weight of her pack, she was the sole carrier of the tent, her mind knotted itself into various shapes of worry.

There was an underlying anger and fear that the drug lord was still around, free to push his junk at teenagers and little kids and that because of one man's weakness, there as nobody that could stop him.

Jenny would never forgive her father if anybody died.

Also, there was the Ash/Brock/Kishi/Misty problem. With Misty back on the scene, Ash would forget everything about Jenny and their short relationship. And now that Kishi and Misty were friends again, Kishi would spend less and less time with Jenny. 

And that left Brock. Brock had been all over Jenny since Hurricane Scyther, but ever since the start of Camp, he had become further and further estranged, and for perhaps the first time, Jenny felt insecure without Brock. Sure he was a dick sometimes, that he was a bit weird and he was sleazy. He'd been all of those things for her, and now that he wasn't there, there was nobody that wanted to do anything for Jenny.

Jenny walked alone, noticing for the first time just how screwed up it had all become.

****

TRACY

Tracy was noticing how screwed up it all was too, he'd seen the looks exchanged between people and the things whispered behind backs.

He knew that Snap and Cassidy had broken up, even though neither one had made a big deal about it, not only had he been directly behind the former couple at the time, but the way they were avoiding each other instead of getting it on was a big clue.

And Kishi had managed to piss off Gabby, Jenny and Jessi all in the one morning, which was an impressive effort.

He knew that Brock was shying away from Jenny because of what Ash had said about how a real man shouldn't brag about how far he has gone.

He knew that Gary and Jessibelle were together, and that Jessibelle was probably hungover, and Gary was worried about her.

And then there was all of the usual chaos, Hitmonchan being part psychic, Misty's mood swings, Joy and Jessibelle suddenly not speaking a word to each other after a month or so of being inseparable. Standard stuff, everything that he had gotten used to over the short period of time that he had been at the school. It felt like forever.

The shortest forever he had ever lived before, though.

Tracy sighed, thinking only of Joy. 

"Hey Lance?" Tracy said softly to the dark haired boy beside him.

"Yeah?"

"Should I ask Joy out?"

__

Time dragged on as the Poketech High students managed to avoid having any social interaction, keeping their thoughts and feelings well to themselves. Before they knew it, the clock had hit six and there were fifteen minutes of final farewells before the four groups (five including the teachers) were pointed in the direction that they would camp.

****

GARY

"See ya, babe," Gary smiled, giving his girlfriend a warm hug, and a small kiss on the cheek.

Jessibelle remained limp, half heartedly hugging him back before pulling away, her eyes fixed on something above Gary's head.

For a second, the fear of being alone in the middle of the bush inhabited by an evil cult washed over him, ad he longed to be sleeping beside Jessibelle, just to know that she was safe, not because he loved her. Because she was the only one who had visited the neighbouring valley almost as many times as he had.

James was no good, he was so afraid and now he was being so quiet, keeping his distance from everybody, especially Gabby, and Gary could tell that it was pissing her off.

Gabby wasn't really offering him much support for his fear either, she wouldn't really take him seriously. She was one of his best friends, but for stuffing around with, not sharing intimate feelings and secrets. Which was fine, Gabby could be a gossip if the matter in question benefited her.

"And let the night come," Jessibelle whispered.

Gary's eyes widened, his eyebrows visually screaming out of his confusion.

"See you, Gary," Jessibelle waved, a brief flicker of something darting across her empty face.

Gary shut his eyes and for the first time in his life, he said nothing.

****

JESSI

The thought of eating dinner was a horrible one for Jessi, her former best friend and two girls who hated her were all making remarks at her expense.

They all prepared dinner, and it came at 7:30, about half an hour before the sky would darken.

In truth, dinner was not the nightmare that she had imagined, Cassidy bitched a little, but Jessibelle was spaced out and Gabby was spending all of her time thinking...and by the time the tent was set up and the sky was dark, Jessi hadn't been attacked verbally or physically.

They were camping on a high hill, if you followed it long enough you would reach a cliff that dropped down onto a small creek, Jessi had already explored the area, her way to get out of helping set up camp and gather firewood.

But now, Jessi was nestled in the safety of her sleeping bag, the hour hand on her watch scraping past 9, the low breathing of her exhausted companions lulling her into an innocent, childlike doze...

****

JESSIBELLE

Jessibelle awoke just after midnight, hearing the crunching of sticks around her, her mind jolted into a fearful state of consciousness.

"Can you hear that?" Gabby hissed, making Jessibelle jump.

Jessibelle nodded, realising that her friend had also been woken up by the noises. Jessibelle untangled herself from her sleeping bag and released herself into the night air, unzipping the tent flap and peering out into the darkness.

Gabby crawled up beside her, shoving a flashlight into her hand.

Jessibelle said nothing, creeping out into the gloom and strapping her hiking boots on. Gabby, worried, did the same, ears pricking.

Jessibelle switched the torch on, keeping a steady hand as she shone it into the bush around them. There was nothing but the sounds.

"This is very Blair Witch," Gabby whispered, taking Jessibelle's arm. "There's nothing here, it's just a Mankey or something. Let's go back to the tent."

"In a moment," Jessibelle said quietly, walking slowly to the end of their tent site clearing, facing scrubby bushland.

Hesitantly, Gabby took her place beside her.

The two teenage girls stood their for a moment, each thinking their own thoughts. Eventually silence fell, there was no snapping of twigs.

Jessibelle turned around to go back to bed.

She walked right into the black cloth that was billowing in the wind, the connection oddly solid...Jessibelle's heart pounding five beats in her brain before she realised she was being held by the cult leader.

Gabby was trying to shriek, her fists beating the flesh beneath the material flapping in the night breeze. Tears started to flow down Gabby's cheeks as she watched the terror spread across Jessibelle's face, contorting it into a play of light and shadows that was too surreal for this world.

Gabby gasped and brought her torch down upon the head of the previously impassive cult leader, towering and oppressively huge, so much bigger than before...

The leader whipped around, his hands lessening their pressure on Jessibelle's frail wrists...Jessibelle wrenched away, kicking her assailant, and then, voice choking with sobs, she fled into the night.

Faced with the leader, Gabby ran too, following the sound of Jessibelle's footsteps.

Sweat trickled down Jessibelle's face as she ran, tears streaming from her eyes, her legs getting cut by the longing branches of the shrubs around her.

Her animal pant filled the night as she and Gabby struggled through the landscape, her ribcage heaving with every breath.

Gabby's hair flew wild behind her as she ran, her mind screaming out for Gary as she tried to stay within sight range of Jessibelle. Her mind feverishly recounted his jokingly horrific tale of running, and somewhere in the distance, perhaps outside of this reality, Gabby swore that she heard someone utter 'I know a quicker way'.

They ran for an inordinate amount of time, never stopping, never looking back, for every time that they slowed they would hear the slow, ponderous steps of the leader behind them, taking all the time in the world, because in this world, it was his world alone.

Because nighttime was his time and when you live in consciousness in the time of the night, you followed his rules and his rule of time is that time never passes if you are not conscious of it.

In the leader's reality, consciousness was a just a measurement of time anyway.

Jessibelle and Gabby were consciousness of nothing as they fled.

"_Shit_!" Jessibelle cursed, uttering the first word spoken in halting sobs, her running not slowing in pace.

The trees had split to reveal a slight rise in the rocky, bare ground, but after that nothing. She continued to run.

Behind her Gabby screamed out "_STOP BELLE_!"  
Jessibelle didn't stop, and her feet connected with empty air, her body fell limply from the top of the cliff and cracked when it hit the rocks below.

"_BEEELLLLEEEE_!" Gabby screamed again, filling the night with her wail, but no answer came.

__

'And it feels now, 

Just like Heaven's comin' down

Your soul

Shakes free

As your conscience hits the ground'

'Heaven's Coming Down', The Tea Party

TO BE CONTINUED.

Agh...thanks everyone, I finally got around to writing this, so OK, this is Jessibelle's final fate, but what about Gabby up there still with the leader?

I make no pretense to be a good writer of any sorts, especially a scary writer, and this was a pretty shonky offering. So OK, I'm the least perfect being on this planet, I know that, but have I ever claimed not to be?

Lots of love to you all,

Tenshi_Mew2

__


	5. Default Chapter Title

****

Poketech Camp 5

****

Disclaimer- I don't own Pokemon, I don't own Placebo either, and I have permission of neither to include anything in this fic. I own the characters Kishi and Gabby, and Lance (and his Hitmonchan) belong to Mr. Emerid. 

Last time- Jessibelle was last seen connecting heavily with the ground from a great height, Cassidy and Snap broke up, Misty became friends with Kishi and Ash again, Jenny cracked it, Jessi cracked it, and Gabby as left screaming on the top of a cliff while the Cult Leader hunted her…

GABBY

Gabby rushed to the edge of cliff, her voice gasping, struggling to find something to say…she could make out Jessibelle's body easily despite the darkness, it was lying broken perhaps 35-40 metres down from her. 

"_BELLE?_!" Gabby screamed again "_SHIT!_ BELLE?!"

There was the crunching the sound of footsteps upon dirt behind her, and Gabby whipped around, panicked.

The person that she turned to face was the Cult Leader, his black robe trailing behind him, his face hidden.

Gabby shook her head, her voice frail "What the _hell_ do you want?" she breathed.

He didn't answer, he breezed past her, peering to the base of the cliff, transfixed by Jessibelle's dead body.

Overcome with rage and feverish panic, Gabby didn't notice herself jut her elbow out, nor did she notice the blur of motion as she rushed at the Leader, the only thing she heard was his cry of surprise as he lost his footing and tumbled forward.

After falling for the smallest fraction of time, he hit the ground, his back snapped on a protruding rock in the creekbed.

Tears poured down Gabby's reddened cheeks as she took a step back, horrified at what she had done, and then she ran to the Teachers' tent.

****

BUTCH

Butch's tent group was the closest to where the teachers slept for an obvious reason; they were the rowdiest, so they had been set up to be completely within earshot of the adults…unfortunately this also another unforeseen effect; Butch's group could hear the conversation of the teachers, however they kept their speech quiet…

Butch would have never woken up if it weren't for Gabby's sobbing, at first he thought he was hearing things, because the girls were camped ages away, but then his brain sort of clicked into focus and he realised that Gabby was at the teachers' tent.

Butch saw Gary next to him, and thinking that Gabby's cries would interest him, Butch shook him awake.

Gary groaned and rolled over, but a few seconds later he heard Gabby crying and he sat bolt upright, giving Butch a confused look.

Butch's luminous watch declared the time as half past twelve, so what was Gabby doing up so early? Butch strained to hear her choking words.

"Oh _shit_…oh my god…she's dead…she's _dead_…please do _something_…" Gabby cried. 

Mr. Gyabunga whispered something and then there was the sound of someone rummaging through the tent.

"Oh my god…" Gabby wailed again, louder than before "I can't believe it…._oh shit_…Belle's _dead_…"

It was Butch's turn to jump, he and Gray exchanged fearful looks of disbelief, before scrambling to get the tent open and struggling to get outside, whereupon they ran to the teachers' tent.

"What's this about Belle?" Gary demanded roughly, sprinting up to Gabby, his face lined with worry. Butch was at his heels, sinking back into the shadows…

"_Gary!_ Oh shit Gary!" Gabby gushed, wrapping her arms around him "She's dead, _she's dead_…" Gabby hissed hoarsely, her whole body trembling.

"What the _fuck_? How?" Gary demanded, pushing Gabby away, but still supporting her under the shoulders.

"I've radioed Helimed for a helicopter to come in," Wendy said, voice laden with concern.

It was then as Butch stood in the darkness of midnight while the sky thundered its warning of rain above him, that it really hit him. The girl he loved was dead.

He loved her, he knew it now…even though she was with Gary, Butch knew then and there that he still wanted her and that she had died without him ever telling her. The last thing that she would remember of him is that he screwed Joy Ferry while she was in hospital…

"Come and show me where she fell, OK?" Mr. Gyabunga said gently, putting his arm around Gabby. He gave Butch and Gary respective nods "Can you come too? She will need your support…but…oh…I don't know…how could this have happened?"

"What?!" Gary demanded, staring into Gabby's eyes "Don't tell me…?"

Gabby nodded weakly.

"_OH SHIT_!" Gary hollered at no one "_Why did I_ let her keep going…?"

The skies split open and rain began to fall, fat droplets landing on everything, as though heaven itself was crying.

"What happened to her?" Butch shivered, his voice ice cold.

"She fell from a great height…" Wendy informed him in a strained voice.

Butch's mouth fell upon, fitful breaths escaping him…

"We have to get down to where she fell and try to signal the helicopter with our torches," Wendy said, trying to sound strong "We have about twenty-five minutes."

__

'I understand the fascination

I've been there once or twice or more

But if you don't change your situation

Then you'll die

Don't die

Please don't die'

'Commercial for Levi', by Placebo

****

GABBY

Gabby's heart pounded as she clung to Gary, the whole experience blurring into a surreal dream before her eyes.

The rain pouring down around them soaked through Gabby's nightdress, and she shivered, fading dim torches being waved around her, the roar of the landing helicopter deafening her ears.

All of the while her eyes never strayed from Jessibelle's body, though it was a good distance away, she felt as though she would touch it if she moved an inch too far. So she remained still, holding onto Gray as though her life depended on it, terrified. "He's gone…" she whispered "I _killed him_, Gary…"

Gray nodded but said nothing.

"I knocked him…off the cliff…but he's gone…I _saw_ him fall damnit! I watched his spine break but where the _fuck_ is he?" Gabby screamed, her voice hitting the note of shrill panic.

"_Shit_…" Gary sighed "I don't believe that she's gone…"  
The helicopter finally connected with the ground, it's blades whirring with increasingly slower speed.

"But _he's_ not, Gary," Gabby sobbed in a voice drenched in horror. "_He's_ still here…"

Gary placed a hand on her head and attempted to soothe her, but Gabby's sobs rang out as sharp and clear as bells, even over the blaring of the helicopter.

****

BUTCH

Butch watched in the distance as three men in yellow boilersuits gathered around Jessibelle, and another one queried Mr. Gyabunga and Wendy.

Cold rain plastered Butch's hair to his pale forehead, his eyes staring starkly out from his blank face.

The men carefully lifted Jessibelle onto a stretcher.

"There's a faint pulse…" one yelled, dropping her hand. "Very faint."

Butch's heart leapt at the words that he had been hoping to hear all night, that there was due cause for his childish hope, there suddenly felt like so much point standing in the rain and waiting while his heart broke.

The stretcher was hoisted into the helicopter, and just after dying down, the cruel blades began to spin again, cold wind whipping right through him.

Butch found himself running to the helicopter door. "Can I come with her?" he demanded in his loudest yell.

The emergency men gave each other worried looks, and Butch made the step into the helicopter "I'm her boyfriend," he said softly, waiting for the men to either slam the door or kick him out. They did neither, they just stared at him.

"OK," one said at last, his nametag read 'Vic'.

"Thanks." Butch said, for the first time seeing Belle up close, he was cramped between her stretcher and two of the emergency service men.

His face twisted into a mask of sad disgust, seeing the unnatural angle what Belle's head had lolled to, the blood staining her face…and the overall…weakness that surrounded her, as though she had lost her glow…

Vic slammed the helicopter door shut and it lifted off, carrying Butch and Belle away…

__

'You're the one who's always choking trojan

You're the one who's always bruised and broken

Sleep may be the enemy

But so's another line

It's a remedy

You should take more time,'

'Commercial for Levi', by Placebo

__

For Gary and Gabby, who spent the night in the teachers' tent, sleep did not come, but awakened nightmares did, as they fearfully clutched eachother all night and prayed more with every second for daylight to break.

Eight o'clock in the morning assembled all of the tent groups outside the teachers' tent, all slightly nervous by the serious tones in the voices of Wendy and Mr. Gyabunga, and the fresh tears upon the faces of Gary and Gabby, and the disappearance of Butch and Jessibelle.

****

CASSIDY  
"I don't want to put this the wrong way…" Wendy said slowly "But I think that it is my duty to tell you that-"

Mr. Gyabunga interjected her. "Some of you might have been worried last night about Jessibelle, Butch, Gabby and Gary disappearing…"

Cassidy shot Gabby a questioning look, wondering where the hell that she had been and if they were getting into trouble for it.

"I just want to say that there was an accident last night, involving Jessibelle, I think the sound of a helicopter might have woken some of you up-"

Cassidy sighed in relief, she was wondering why that for some reason her dream of a nice sunny beach had been infiltrated by an air attack squad…

Mr. Gyabunga gave his students a worried look, and then continued "Anyway, Jessibelle has been flown to hospital and Butch has gone with her,"

The whole class gasped and whispered and cried…but Cassidy held everything back until she was standing beside Gary.

"Why didn't _you_ go…?" she asked him, wrapping her tanned arms around him and feeling his shoulders shake with heavily suppressed tears.

"I don't…I don't know…" Gary whispered "Oh shit Cass, _all_ I am thinking about is _me_…"

Cassidy smiled ruefully. "That's all you ever think about."

"But she's dying and I'm not with her and all I can think about is how I feel about it but for fuck's sake…she is dying…" Gray sobbed violently.

Cassidy smoothed down his ruffled hair and held him.

****

JAMES  
Breathing heavily, James cried into Gabby's shoulder, and he supported her. "It was the cult man…wasn't it?" he whispered in absolute fear.

"I tried to kill him, James…_oh_ _fuck_, I _did_ kill him…" Gabby lamented "But he is still alive because he's gone and I _know_ that he wants to kill _me_ now too…"

"Oh shit…oh shit…oh shit…" James repeated over and over, rocking backwards and forwards, his face blotchy with tears.

__

All of the students reacted in shock and tears to the news, but the reality of their situation had to shine through, and despite the tragedy, they were expected to hike back to base camp. And so, after packing their tent site up, they began the sad journey back to base.

****

GABBY

"Gabby, can we talk to you, please?" Wendy said in strained tones as the rest of the students filed away from them, packs strapped up and voices murmuring individual sadness.

"Uh-huh…" Gabby hiccuped, hoisting her pack onto her shoulders.

"I know that you are going through a bad time now-" Wendy began, but once again, was cut off by Mr. Gyabunga, who was infinitely better at dealing with people.

"Gabby, I want you to know why you and Belle were up there last night." He said softly, examining her face.

Gabby shrugged and sniffed.

"Gabby, why were you and Jessibelle on that cliff?" Wendy demanded, not taking Mr. Gyabunga's hint to shut up.

Gabby sniffed again, wiping her nose on her shirt sleeve.

"Is it drugs?" Wendy demanded "_Smoking_, _drinking_ perhaps? Of _course_ it was."  
Mr. Gyabunga covered his face with his hand.

"It was _not_!" Gabby exclaimed, insulted.

"Yes it _was_." Wendy stated forcefully, "It was drugs, why else would Jessibelle fall off of a cliff? She was obviously under the influence-"

"Shut up you _bitch_!" Gabby screamed suddenly "Don't you _ever_ shit over Belle like that, _ever_, show some respect! The girl is fucking _dying_!"

"That is no excuse for taking illicit-"

"Shut _up_, Wendy!" Mr. Gyabunga broke in "You have no idea how to deal with this so close your mouth for once and you might learn something. Just because you are a teacher does not mean that there is nothing left to learn." He fumed.

Gabby was secretly shocked at this revelation, but she was far too concerned with the present.

"If you don't tell us by tomorrow, noon." Wendy snapped, ignoring Mr. Gyabunga "Then _forget_ coming back to school on Monday."

Gabby gasped…how could she tell her teachers not to expel her because she and her friend were escaping the leader of a cult?

_'I understand the fascination_

The dream that comes alive at night

But if you don't change your situation

Then you'll die

Don't die

Please don't die'

'Commercial for Levi' by Placebo

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks heaps for reading this, I know it is short, and I'm sorry for that, but I guess it is better than too long…

So what will happen next time? Is Belle OK? How does Gary feel? Will Gabby express the truth…or will _he_ find her first…?

(That is the dodgiest teaser I have ever written.)

So a big hug and kiss to you all, and I'll leave you with my legacy to the world…here is the last verse to '_Blue American'_ by Placebo. (*AN- I am Australian, not American)

_'I wrote this novel just for you_

I'm so pretentious

Yes it's true

I wrote this novel just for you

Just for you'

Love heaps (especially to any Placebo fans),

Tenshi_Mew2


	6. Default Chapter Title

****

P o k e t e c h _ C a m p _ 6

Last time, Gabby informed the teachers that Belle had fallen off of a cliff, and Butch catches the SES helicopter back to the hospital to with the near-dead Jessibelle.

Also Gabby is being threatened with expulsion if she doesn't reveal the truth in why Jessibelle jumped/fell, but how can she when she doesn't even know herself?

__

It was Friday, just before lunch, and the silent Poketech High students were 'enjoying' their last four hours of camp, they had arrived back at Base Camp about half an hour earlier.

****

GABBY

Uncharacteristically unkempt hair fell in a tangled mess about her shoulders, her face was gauntly plain without any make up...

She knelt there on the grass, far away from all of the other sympathetic faces, and she shook with sweat drenched fear.

"Gabby?" Gary said behind her, his normally loud voice was now barely audible. "I don't want to bullshit you." He said softly, sitting beside her "I'm just going to tell you exactly what I did and if you hate me for it, then that's life. I went back."

"Why?" Gabby asked quietly, not looking over at him.

"I was curious." Gary said stiffly "But Gabby, there was a skull on one of the stakes..."

A sob escaped Gabby's throat, and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Fuck off, Gary, don't shit me like this..."

"It's true Gabby..."

"What sort of skull?" she demanded.

"Do you think I would hang around to check it out?" Gary reeled back with mock surprise "It looked human enough from where I was."

A wet hiccup sound was heard from Gabby and she wiped her nose on her sleeve, her eyes dark and hollow. "I'm so sick of this..." she said darkly.

"Me too," Gary said, putting his arm around her.

Gabby shrugged him off. "I'm going to do something about it."

She stood up, wiping the seat of her blue cargo shorts free of clinging grass seeds.

"Like what?" Gary said, almost challengingly, rising to his feet as well. "Use Kishi's psychic magic on them or whatever?"

"No." Gabby said, walking away, "I'm gonna talk to them."

****

LANCE

"So how do you feel about it?" Kishi asked him.

Something inside of Lance snapped, releasing good vibe hormones or whatever. Kishi had been the only person to ask him how he felt about Jessibelle's sudden camp exit, everyone else had assumed that because he wore a trenchcoat he was a naturally depressed guy, so they were free to unload their feelings and walk off without questioning his.

But Kishi had asked him, and even though he didn't really know Jessibelle, it felt good to tell her.

"I guess because you all grew up with her it has hit you really hard," Lance shrugged "But I never really knew her, in my mind, she was a self-obsessed bitch. But now that she is dying, I don't want to think bad thoughts about her."  
"Do you have any good thoughts, though?" Kishi sighed.

"It's hard to," Lance admitted. "Everyone says that she was deeply committed to Butch in their relationship, but that was over before I was on the scene."

"It's weird..." Kishi thought for a moment "I've forgotten most of that already...I remember at that same party that James kissed me...and then I even went out on a date with him. Back then, all that meant so much to me, but now...it's nothing..."

"Yeah?" Lance asked, smiling slightly "Perhaps that is because there is someone else special on the scene,"

"Stranger things have happened," Kishi shrugged with a reflective grin.

Lance looked into her eyes, searching them from behind the comfort of his black sunglasses. He could see that there was something clearly bothering her. Worried, he asked "What's up?"

Kishi bit her lip. "In truth? It's Gabby..."

****

GABBY

Gabby stormed into the Cult's yard, alerting all to her presence by a loud, sharp "Hello?"

The Leader's piercing eyes were made visible for the first time, they were a plain grey colour; and not the flashing silver or deadly black that anyone would have expected. "Yes?" he smiled, his eyes leering at her.

"One of my friends was injured last night," Gabby snapped accusingly, not noticing Gary until he grabbed her shoulder from behind. She shrugged his hand away.

"Really?" the Leader played, smiling "The one on the cliff?"  
"You asshole!" Gabby gasped, her face drained of colour.

"Me? Why do you say that?"

"You and you're fucking cult killed her!" Gabby yelled, starting to cry from fear and sadness.

Gary wrapped his arm around her waist, shaking.

"What cult is that?" The Leader asked with a sickeningly innocent smile. "You shouldn't have come here."

"You're right, we shouldn't have," Gary excused quickly with a sweet smile, "And now my friend and I are going!"

Gary pushed Gabby forward, forcing her into a run, and then they both fled the clearing, with the interested eyes of the Cult Leader following them.

GARY

"Did you see it?" Gary panted furiously, dragging Gabby with one arm.

"Uh-huh," Gabby sobbed, her breaths as loud as screams.

"I told you!" Gary screamed shrilly "I fucking told you!"

Gabby wailed in repsonse. 

"I'm gonna kill that bastard!" Gary screamed.

And the two ran back to camp.

****

JOY

Joy blushed, unsure of what to say to Misty before the words parted her lips. 

"Do you love Ash?"

Misty reeled back, hanging her head "I don't know..."

"I'm sorry!" Joy gushed "I feel like such an idiot..."

"Why do you want to know? Do you want him?" Misty asked.

"No...I really don't know why I asked!" Joy apologised truthfully "But I think...that Jenny does..."

"Yeah, no shit," Misty sighed "But things are finally working out between me and Ash and I don't want her...around..."

"But she is going out with Brock," Joy reminded her.

"Butch was with Jessibelle," Misty spat "But that didn't stop him,"

Joy bit her lip and tried to blink the tears from her eyes, and then she hung her head.

****

SNAP

Snap didn't bother looking up when he heard his name being called, and he put his digital camera back in its case, before turning around. He had to prioritise.

Gabby and Gary ran up to him, looking frightened and disheveled. Gary had a mobile phone (CDMA, not digital) with him.

"Snap, we need a favour," Gabby shrugged hopefully, and then she shivered.

"What?" Snap said cautiously.

No one answered for a second...

The three of them were standing underneath an old crumbling tree about halfway up the mountain that looked down upon the campsite.

"I'm going to make the call now," Gary said at last, and then he ran further up the hill to a place where the phone would get service.

"So what do you want?" Snap asked again.

Gabby snapped out of her daydream "We need your camera," 

"And me, I assume? I don't lend my camera out, you see." Snap said quietly, blushing a little.

"Yeah...we need you too..." Gabby sighed.

"What for?"

"To take photos..." Gabby snapped.

"Of what...?"

"Just stuff..." Gabby groaned.

Snap was suddenly quite fed up with this game. "Tell me what of, or I won't take the freaking shots!"

Gabby sighed again and pulled her fringe back. "You see...the people next door are in a cult and it all started when Gary went to-"

Snap sensed the long story coming and shut down his thoughts for the moment, even though slightly on edge, worried that his old adversary, Gary, and his best friend Gabby, were playing some kind of trick on him...

__

But Snap took the photos anyway...of the Cult Leader, the skull (Tauros, as fate had it) on the stake, the twelve cult members and their residence. And then Gary called the police.

GARY

"East of Lavender?" Jnr. Constable Wayborne sighed over the static on the opposite end of Gary's (stolen) mobile phone.

"Yes, at the Pokemon Technical camp site...well to be technical, the valley five minutes away from it," Gary explained, though he was unsure about what was happening, he was putting on a marvellous impersonation of Mr. Gyabunga's voice.

"Mr. Gyabunga? Can I tell you something, if you promise not to tell your students this..." Wayborne paused "The accident involving your student, it wasn't the first in that area, last year a young girl drowned in that lake-" Gary gulped, disgusted that he'd been swimming in it, "And the year before that a girl went missing...it seems we have a black hole for pretty young teens,"

Gary got instantly pissed off at the Jnr. for talking about his girlfriend as though she was a cut-up med school cadaver. "Oh."

"The Force will be there A.S.A.P." Wayborne stated heavily "I'm sorry."  
"Yeah, bye," Gary responded, pressing 'end'. Then he laughed "May the force be with you..."

Beside him, Gabby and Snap exchanged confused glances.

Gary put his arm around Gabby and smiled at her. "It's going to be alright, you know, Gabs, it will all work out."

He kissed her fondly on the forehead. "It's gonna be alright."

__

(By 1 pm the students were tearing apart the camp site, cleaning up their messes and coming to terms with their feelings)

****

ASH

Ash looked over at Misty as he and his tentmates took apart the camping shower. He felt a strange compulsion to be with her...not to touch her or hold her...just to be beside her...

"I think that I like somebody..." Tracy said shyly, breaking the two minute silence.

"Who?" Brock demanded "I'll set her with you."  
"Brock with your track record I wouldn't try it," Lance laughed, though there was a trace of nastiness present underneath his statement.

"Hey!" Brock snapped, moving to the defensive "At least I have a girlfriend...and have had one this year!"

"*What is up his ass?!*" Hitmonchan demanded "*And more importantly, who has been shoving it up there?*"  
"Huh?" Ash mumbled, confused the speed of Hitmonchan's gangster talk.

"That wasn't necessary Brock." Tracy shot back.

"Er...yeah anyway..." Ash said, trying to change the subject "Tobasco sauce is tops, isn't it?"  
"How do you know I don't have a girlfriend?" Lance retorted, snapping out of his trance.

"He does go to Kishi's house every night," Tracy added with a grin.

Lance blushed.

"Kishi? So what?" Brock coughed in what he supposed was a macho way.

"You kissed her cousin thinking it was her, remember?" Lance smiled.

"You weren't there!" Brock exclaimed before Lance had even finished his sentence.

"Kishi told me," Lance shrugged.

"So Lance is going out with Kishi," Brock almost spat "Interesting...and Tracy has a secret love...who is it, Pretty-Boy?"

Tracy blushed...he hated being called Pretty-Boy, Nancy-Boy (even though Placebo did enjoy that title for Velvet Goldmine) Mummy's-Boy, and others...he hated being called those things just as much as Ash hated being called stupid. Though Tracy did have to admit, sometimes Ash was very deserving of that title.

Tracy looked from Ash's blank face, to Brock's smirking one, and then to Lance's scowl. "I can't tell you that now..." Tracy sighed.

Brock muttered something under his breath and turned his back.

Ash let the incident pass and returned his thoughts to Misty, but when he turned to face her, she was gone...

Rather symbolic, in some ways...

If Ash knew what that meant, anyway.

****

TO BE CONTINUED

__

And the next part is the last one...the gang are travelling home, there is no word on Jessibelle, the Police will be at the Cult's valley the next day...and spirits are mixed. So come and feed yourself on these spirits, get as drunk as you feel you need to, because after the next episode, there will be no more Poketech Camp.

There will be Poketech High instead.

Love heaps,

Mew2_Molko (hmm...nice ring to it...but would I really marry a bisexual, 5 ft 6 Goth who can't wear red? Of course I would!) (um, that would be Brian of Placebo)

Nah really, I am Tenshi_Mew2...this is my ficlet series... see ya


	7. Default Chapter Title

****

P O K e T E C H C a M P 7

I just want to thank you all because I have been through a really hard time over the past few months and everybody has been absolutely beautiful. A big hi to everyone in the US, I hope you are enjoying the cool weather while we sweat it out down here in Australia, hello to any Placebo fans (write to me if you are) and a big special hello to Digifan3:16, Mr. Emerid and Starkiller (who I'm guessing has good taste in music)!

The gang is going home, the party is already being planned and everybody reflects on the trip...except of course...dearly departed Jessibelle, and Butch, who travelled back to hospital with her.

****

GABBY

In terms of explaining Belle's fall, Mr. Gyabunga had temporarily let Gabby off the hook, although Wendy was maintaining that if there were to be a court case she would testify against Gabby.

It never ceased to amaze Gabby that as much as she loved PE, she would never ever find a PE teacher who was not evil.

Gabby was just relieved that all of the trouble with the Cult was over...she'd never been scared of anything before. Not even the dodgy roller coaster at the Pokemon Fan Park, which lost about 30% of its bolts every time that somebody rode it.

Well now she had experienced true fear, fear for her life and for the lives of her friends...for Jessibelle and Gary...

She sighed as she sat on the rickety bus full of silent teenagers. She felt an immense deflation now that the excitement was over and they were going home. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go back...she hated the last few days of camp...especially Thursday night, but the first day had been so much fun.

If only the rest of camp would have been the same way she would have loved it.

But like something out of a C-grade horror movie, there was a Cult next door, and Gary had later told her, that in the last three years, they had killed three teenage girls. Jessibelle made four.

Gary was the one who had called the Police (pretending to be Mr. Gyabunga, naturally)...and Snap had taken some photos of the Cult. As soon as Snap got off the bus he would take those photos down to the Police Station.

Gabby wasn't sure what she wanted to do after school...part of her wanted to rush home to lie down and have a spa...no wait, a shower first, she didn't want to get a few days worth of dirt and grime into the lovely white spa of her upstairs bathroom. But another part of her still beckoned stress, and that part wanted to get to hospital and find out if Belle was...dead...or not.

****

JAMES

James scratched his head lethargically and he yawned. He probably hadn't slept more than six hours total on that camp. Mainly from fear that Gabby would get hurt by the Cult man, but also that he was not accustomed to having a thin layer of closed cell sleeping mat between him and some incredibly uncomfortable ground. 

James did not like camping.

Therefor James did not like camp.

In the seat in front of him, Gary was humming 'Renegades of Funk' and either staring at Cassidy opposite him, or out her window. Beside Gary, Gabby sat, leaning her head against the cool glass of the bus window.

James bit his lip, because he had never been so close to losing anyone before...and all the time that he was worrying about Gabby, Jessibelle had been slipping away from him and he had been too concerned about Gabby to even notice...as the only member of the original Cult discovery group not to continue seeking the Cult members out...James held himself partially responsible.

He yawned, and tried to think of a song which would get stuck in his head and steer his thoughts away from Jessibelle and Gabby...but the problem was...not even sedatives would calm the feverish convulsions of emotion that James was suffering.

A thought occurred to James...he knew Cassidy was smoking dope...she said it was really relaxing. As James wrung his hands in his lap he noticed that he really needed relaxing.

Money was no object...and Cassidy could supply him with all needed...

James used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. He'd never contemplated drugs before...

**JOY**

Joy rubbed her tired eyes with her fists, a yawn surging through her closed lips. There was a certain sense of relief in her mind, she hated camps because she wasn't a physical person, and the end of the trauma that the end of camp brought, was wonderful. 

Still it had been a nice way to get away from her parents and the farm. 

But she'd thought she would have spent her time with Jessibelle...she'd thought Jessibelle and her were friends...well Jessibelle had certainly proved that wrong. She chose Misty over Joy to be in her tent group. And Joy knew that Jessibelle hated Misty.

But Jessibelle had fallen off a cliff, and Joy couldn't stand to think anything bad about her. 

Joy hated to think anything bad about anyone else, it was just so wrong. She'd always wondered how someone could say something horrible about someone else. Well now she knew.

Joy had absolutely nothing in common with Jessibelle but a hatred for Jessi and Butch that had spurred their mismatched friendship. If you were to call it that.

Under the guidance of Jessibelle Joy had learned words she'd never imagined bikers to use, insults so cutting that they were beyond funny and exactly what it was that everybody did on Friday and Saturday nights. 

She thought this information would give her power and she would become 'cool' by attending the parties of her peers, but she didn't want to. She just wanted to stay where she was in life, with the farm and her studies and she didn't want to go to parties. Because the last party that she went to changed her life.

****

ASH

Ash twisted the elastic band he'd found on the bus seat around in his fingers, half pretending it was some new breed of Pokemon, and half trying to mangle it.

Ash felt guilty because he was so happy, happy that Misty had finally accepted him. But if he showed any signs of happiness now, people would hate him, so he turned his attention to the real world. 

Ash didn't want to dwell in thought because he was the only one who couldn't be sustained by his mind, Ash needed to make snap decisions and learn from the results, he hated the calculation and frustration of waiting.

Perhaps it was a sign of maturity, or perhaps he was just bored, but Ash was starting to think and to notice things.

Like that he and Gary were moving apart. While Gary was off discovering cults, making out with his girlfriend and drinking, Ash was talking about Butterfree and Quagsire.

It seemed that Gary was moving on to other things, trying to make himself feel older, perhaps.

Ash's hands suddenly became still, and he dropped the elastic band that he'd found on his seat. Everyone he used to know was changing. Brock was with Jenny half of the time, Snap and Cassidy may had broken up, but Snap was still friends with Butch, James, Gabby and Jessibelle. Lance spent the majority of his time with Kishi, and Tracy...

Ash didn't know Tracy that well...Tracy was always thinking something, or drawing something. Ash couldn't imagine Tracy with a girl at a club or a party.

Ash couldn't put himself in that scene either. There was a small part of him that wanted a girlfriend...he didn't want to be left behind...and he needed someone.

But who? Not Jenny again. Not Joy or Kishi...perhaps Gabby? He supposed he didn't know Gabby as well as he thought he did any more.

__

What about Misty? He asked himself. A year ago, Misty would have been the first name to spring to his mind. A year ago he, Gary, Kishi, Gabby and Misty had all been friends.

Now Kishi spent her time with Jenny and Lance, Gary with Gabby, James, Butch, Jessibelle and Cassidy. Gabby spent her time with Snap as well the rest of them. Misty spent her time alone.

Ash picked up the elastic band and tried to become what he was last year. It was so much easier to pretend nothing had ever happened then to come to terms with being completely alone.

****

JENNY

Jenny thought that she would hate Brock, but there was something about his persistence and faith that had gotten underneath her skin, and suddenly, she didn't care if he made a d*ck out of himself, because he didn't care.

She was sick of Kishi always hinting that maybe she wasn't happy with Brock. Mind reading doesn't solve all of the problems in the world, does it? 

Jenny also resented Kishi for her using her as a temporary best friend until Misty had recovered.

Kishi might pretend to be such a pillar of innocence, but she was just as bitchy as her cousin, Gabby. The only difference was; Kishi was more discreet. 

Well Jenny wasn't going to be the chick who stood up for things in her mind and watched it all collapse in front of her. She was going to put her foot in the door and speak up for what she believed in.

She would tell Kishi where to get off and she would treat Brock so much better, and then she would let Joy know how much she despised her weakness.

Because Jenny had wasted too much of her life letting it pass away, now she knew that she had to make something with what she had been given. It was her right to, and she was right.

From now on, if she believed in herself, no matter what, she would always be right.

****

BROCK

Brock had always wanted a stable girlfriend, someone who was always there, no matter what he did wrong. Someone to stand by him and to help him through.

And now he had found what he wanted in Jenny, it was fast losing its appeal. All of his high school years had been devoted into picking up a girl, and now he had one, there was an alarming amount of free time in his life.

What was he supposed to strive towards now? He could put his efforts back into the Gym and his family, but his father was coping so well now. He could try harder at school, but he was averaging Bs. 

He thought back to everytime that he had been crushed by rejection and he'd thought his life was sh*t. Now he realised exactly how lucky he was and that there was nothing missing in his life.

And he realised how wrong that made him feel. 

There was something amusing in his situation; all his life he had hoped for stability and the second it arrived, he was prepared to throw it all away again.

Brock grimaced, sinking lower into his seat, focusing on the overcast sky. Was he really prepared to let Jenny go?

He didn't love her as much as he had when she was out of his reach.

The grass was always greener, wasn't it? But what if there more paddocks of greener grass waiting for him somewhere else? He'd never know if he didn't go.

Brock sighed and settled in his seat, dropping his gaze.

There was a startling emptiness in perfection.

****

MISTY

Misty absently chewed on her thumbnail, her attention cast in the vague direction of the bus window.

It had finally happened. She was the old Misty again. Her brain felt physically cold and it felt bland, as though someone had sucked all of the vivacity and colour out of it. All of her memories left a bitter metallic taste in her mouth and they were different, like someone had used a remote control to drain away the entirety of the colour.

It felt as though half of her was missing.

The half that was missing was the half that didn't care for anyone else, it was the half that rebelled against the world and tried to stand out.

Misty now realised how hard it was to live with her actions, especially when she had no control over them. 

Misty wondered if she would ever feel normal again, if she would ever feel complete. She wondered how many friends she had lost as well.

A tune started in the back of Misty's mind before she had any idea what it was. It was not until her mind had reached the chorus that its significance came into play.

_'I wrote down what I think_

On the head of a matchstick

Wrote it all short and sweet

All that makes sense to me

Just can't add up the sums

Now the damage is done.'

It was '_Damage_', by You Am I. 

Misty wondered if her mind knew things that she didn't...it always seemed one step ahead of her...and she gasped and stopped the thoughts. It was thoughts like that, thoughts about her mind, that fractured her personality before.

Misty could not afford to lose another fragment of herself.

GARY

Gary's foot tapped out the time to 'Renegades of Funk' as his mind wandered. He was thinking about the party Cassidy was planning for the next night, Saturday, and whether or not it would go ahead.

Gary hoped it would.

Gary was thinking about Jessibelle as well, and realising that he wasn't feeling guilty any more, because he didn't love her. He loved her as a friend, but Butch cared for her so much more than he did.

Gary knew that she wasn't dead. People that Gary knew didn't die, they never would. They never had.

The thought of her death never properly entered his mind, and he wasn't blaming himself for any part of it. He hadn't known that she and Gabby would get followed that night.

It had never occurred to Gary, in all his years, that his thoughts only ever tried to prove him innocent or to make him feel better. He'd never thought about how anyone else was feeling, he'd thought of all of the ways he could justify himself.

And that was all he needed to think about, because he could never go anywhere in the world if he was feeling bad or feeling guilty. He'd only love others if he loved himself.

Gary sniggered, not noticing a single thought that he had just had. He was remembering the time on camp that he'd given Ash the wrong directions to the toilet just before they'd all been sent to bed, and Ash had come back complaining of prickles.

Gary remembered the time he'd re-enacted every log-across-the-river crossing scene ever made on the log near the pool.

Gary remembered Gabby trying to teach him ballroom dancing near the campfire.

He smiled broadly. Camp, despite whatever had come close to happening, had been a fun place for him, and that was OK, because he was the only one he needed to be concerned about.

****

CASSIDY

The party could be at her house. Her second oldest brother, Dustin (19) could organise for some of his football mates to come along, and for a second she contemplated putting him in charge of the music...but Rage Against the Machine for six hours solid does start to get on one's nerves.

It would be open invitation, so even freaks like Ash could go along, if they so desired. The thought of freaks brought a smile to Cassidy's face, the first smile she'd had all day. Cassidy could totally show Jessi up in front of everyone.

Cassidy knew that the majority of Cerulean City hated Jessi anyway, but that didn't matter. It certainly wasn't going to stop Cassidy from publicly humiliating Jessi. Cassidy was a big holder of grudges.

Actually come to think of it...Cassidy wasn't exactly sure what Jessi had done in the first place. 

Cassidy's brow tightened, and her eyebrows grew closer together. Jessi had run off with Cassidy's biker friends. Cassidy had placed so much hope in the ideal of running away with nothing but the open road before her.

Now Cassidy had a very good reason to shatter Jessi.

Cassidy squinted at her reflection on the bus window, and then reached into her pocket and applied a coat of cherry red lip gloss. She paused to think about her party again. Who could she put in charge of music? Perhaps Belle's sister Lucinda, she was always very good on that matter...

Cassidy sighed. She'd always felt like she was a friend to Jessibelle, but she had barely noted to the suicidal change in Belle's manner. It had to be suicide, it certainly wasn't murder, and people didn't 'accidentally' fall off of cliffs every day.

Cassidy was finding it hard to believe that she barely felt a thing for Jessibelle.

Cassidy was experiencing more emotion towards Jessi then she was for her dead best friend.

That is probably what summed Cassidy up, anger was the easiest emotion to handle. It could be channelled into basketball or singing, or into beating someone up. Sadness just tied her down. And Cassidy wanted to be free.

LANCE

So that concluded the first Pokemon Technical School Camp he'd been on. He smiled dryly, never a dull moment. Except maybe for him, he'd been bored stiff watching Ash and Misty stress, watching Kishi and Jenny snap and Cassidy start fights.

Camp had been topped off by an overwhelming desire to belt Gary in the head, which was surprising to Lance because he wasn't a violent person.

And now Lance had to return to the Ogawa's where he would undoubtedly feel out of place again. He supposed it was easier for Hitmonchan to fit in, he didn't really have to worry about much, except whether or not Leela the Hitmonlee liked him. Hitmonchan had made a few non-eventful passes at Leela on camp, and was starting to get a little bummed out.

Lance had thought about going back to Parks' Gym a few times in recent weeks, he couldn't deny it. He'd had a good life there, just a sheltered one. A lot of the things that went on in the Gym were so secret that even outside communication, no matter what about, could be banned. Lance had found that top secret Pokemon DNA experiments in the basement wasn't the best thing to show his new friends, so he had hardly made any. He'd bonded with his brother, Russell, and the Pokemon well enough, just not the outside world.

Well now he lived far away from that comfort zone of restrictions, in a house with a pretty girl his age where he was pretty much free to do what he pleased.

Lance barely noticed that he had called Kishi 'pretty'. It just felt so natural to be with her, a brother-sister thing, even if she had a bad habit of mothering him and feeling sorry for him. 

It also gave him something else to focus on. Kishi often revealed how bad she felt about her fight with Sabrina and how she would give anything to go back to the Saffron City Gym. 

So Hitmonchan turned out to be part psychic, Misty returned to normal, Cassidy and Snap broke up, Jessibelle was airlifted out by paramedics, Gabby was suspected of murder and nothing happened to Lance at all.

For once Lance wished that there was something major going on his life, to stop him thinking and succumbing to grateful, docile and satisfied thoughts because Lance wasn't supposed to be living like that. 

****

KISHI

Kishi sighed and rested her chin on her hand, looking boredly out of the bus window. She tried to keep her mind in order because when she gets overly emotional, her mind wanders and starts to pick up other peoples thoughts.

Kishi often threw her emotion into either Pokemon training or swimming, but now she felt a certain lethargy to both. She'd been kicked out of Saffron City Gym, and try as she might to return, some friendships could never be saved.

As for swimming, Kishi had noticed that it made her shoulders too big. She'd stopped doing it because she wanted to look nicer. She wasn't sure why or for who, she just wanted to prove she could. 

Ash had ignored her all year when she had a crush on him, and now she was living with Lance who barely looked at her. Sure, she'd been with James, but that had gone nowhere. He'd used to her to get to Gabby. And he'd failed.

All she wanted, it seemed, was a nice guy to fall for her. She didn't want that...she needed it...but who in their right mind would fall in love with a psychic? All of the year 10 guys thought she was a freak.

Which brought her to item 2; what about the PCE students? Year 11 and 12 guys were cuter...they more slightly more mature, though that didn't really matter to Kishi, but the problem was, none of them would ever think about dating a year 10 girl.

OK so AJ Sebastian had asked Misty out once when she was Year 9 and he was Year 11, but that was because he was desperate. AJ was the library monitor and he needed to lose weight.

And Damien (Yr. 12) had dated Cassidy at the start of the year, but Cassidy was popular and gorgeous. Also an utter bitch, but thinking bad thoughts just led to bitterness and as an emotion, bitterness was useless.

Bitterness would just lie at the base of your mind and warp whatever you were doing into a long nightmare. 

And perhaps that's why Kishi had been losing sleep.

****

TRACY

Tracy had fallen in love. He'd known it the instant he'd stepped on the bus to go home. He'd written off his affections as a clingy grasp for something familiar in an unfamiliar land. Now he knew he was in love with Joy Ferry.

Joy Ferry who lost her virginity at the late age of 16 to Butch Patterson at a party, or so the story goes. Joy Ferry who claimed she was pregnant and split Butch and Jessibelle up. Joy Ferry who won all of the school awards every year, if her friends spoke the truth. 

Joy was exactly the kind of girl that Tracy liked, she was sweet, she was smart and she was very pretty. But he wasn't prepared to ask her out. Something in his mind screamed at him, commanding him to wait.

Tracy, incidently, had lost his virginity to a 16 year old girl called Casey when he was 15, and still living in the Orange Archipelago. This gave him a slightly more powerful edge over Ash, Brock and Lance, who were all still virgins.

Tracy supposed it would also raise him above Snap, but Snap seemed to have deserted them for Butch and James. Tracy guessed that there had been a time not long ago, that Snap would have wished for the status that he'd achieved.

And all that he'd had to do was have his heart broken.

That's why Tracy aimed for girls within his reach, he'd always have a little bit more power than them and he wouldn't get his heart broken. He was always the dumper, never the dumpee.

Such philosophies were unromantic, it's true, and Tracy tried to see the romance in everything. He just liked being in control. There was nothing wrong with that, either. Weren't men designed to be that way?

****

JESSI

Jessi drummed her fingers on the back of the chair in front of her. The good thing was, it was Joy's chair so it must be annoying her. 

Camp had one major highlight for Jessi; she was responsible for the break-up of Snap and Cassidy, a very long running couple. The shock of Jessibelle's fall, however, had dampened Jessi's mood.

If only Jessibelle hadn't always showed off how much prettier/richer/more popular she was all of the time, Jessi would have genuinely lost a friend. There was a bitter happiness somewhere in her mind, she was happy that Belle got what was coming her way.

Jessi paused to lick her lips, suppressing a smile. Was it wrong to be happy when someone was dead? Of course, Jessi didn't believe that Belle was dead, that would be a little too much of a good thing. Fate had never really given her much good of anything. 

Except her job at a particular worldwide chain of hamburger outlets. That was a godsend, and even though she had to scrub the place spotless every night the money was good. Things were looking up. 

Some things were looking down though, she'd heard that James had asked Gabby out. Gabby was a tryhard tart. Jessi found it hard to believe that a guy like James was interested in Gabby, she was just too immature. Gabby should stick with her little friend Gary. The perfect couple.

Jessi toyed with a few loose strands of her hair. She thought of her father. He might have returned home while she was away, and Miranda might have stoped doing those damned 'girlie magazine' photo shoots. 

She was sure that somewhere in the pile of 'girlie magazines' that Gary had lugged to camp, she'd seen her sister coyly positioned in exactly the same way she had been when Jessi sprung her.

Jessi hated the thought of Gary perving at her sister, commenting on her as though he didn't know her. 

Jessi stopped the thoughts short by looking out the window. It was easier to function that way. Too many thoughts could make you turn out like Misty.

SNAP

Snap never thought he'd ever miss Cassidy, because he thought he'd always be with her. Perhaps she had only been bitchy because it was that time of the month, or she was insecure about the number of guys she'd been with.

Snap wondered that if he had slept with her he might still be with her. Then again, if sex was all Cassidy wanted, once she had extracted it from him he would be useless to her.

It wasn't like he would get a second chance, so why was he still thinking about it? Snap had a habit of dwelling in the past, as though if he didn't remember every second of it he wouldn't remember anything, and he would have no past.

That's why he liked photography so much, everything was recorded in hard evidence before him, so he knew that whatever had occurred, really did happen. His favourite song was '_Take a Picture'_ by Filter and that pretty much summed up his attitude to life '_Could you wanna take my picture, cos I won't remember_'.

And he still had those photos of the Cult to send to the Police Station too. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do it or not, but he was going to...and get himself tied up in that matter. It killed Jessibelle, it nearly turned Gabby neurotic, and it sure as hell had Gary riled up.

And James had been timid all camp too, perhaps he had been involved as well. That would explain James not leaving the tent all night when he badly needed to take a pee. 

Snap had always wanted to the popular kind of guy, and now he was, he was handing in photo evidence to the cops, thinking more about sex every minute and spending longer brushing his hair then ever before. And he loved it. 

THE END

It's the definite end to Poketech Camp...but it might also end Poketech High too...it depends how I go at school this year. I've stopped writing pretty much altogether, I've done some Australian fics but they are intended for an Australian audience (gulp) or a lot of the 'jokes' will fall flat on their face.

I'm still doing poetry because that is a good release.

And yesterday, on a brighter note, I won Demand of the Day on By Demand, Channel [v]. It was a good win too, I was competing with a guy who mutilates himself.

Much love to you all,

Kath Molko

The Lady of the Flowers (Placebo reference, forget it if you ain't a fan)

PS- I am going to use either 'Aliens' by Pennywise or 'Teenage Angst' by Placebo for the theme song. 

PPS- Nancy Boys rock.

**** ****


End file.
